WORDTIPS: CRUEL INTENTION OR DIVINE INTENTION
There was this man Simon in the Bible who was a sorcerer turned believer. He eagerly asked for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be imparted to him from the apostles Peter and John and he offered to give them some money. As a sorcerer he displayed himself as ‘a great power of God’ through his sorceries, and now again he wanted to show himself powerful through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The apostles profoundly rebuked him and Simon pleaded for mercy (Acts 8:9-24).
In the world we greatly appreciate people doing good stuffs, lending alms, caring for the sick, orphans and elderly, etc. But according to the Scriptures, it is not what good we go around doing but why we do them. Our intentions matter.
Is it for gaining a good name, popularity or some other favor in return, or do we do all these with genuine care and concern? If we are genuinely concerned, we would not boast about our good works and we would be doing the same good works when no one else would see or hear or even come to know what we are doing.
Even in the family relationships we see people caring for each other out of selfish motives. But God sees our hearts. He searches our drives behind our every work and talk.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts (Proverbs 21:2). Likewise, there is another verse that says, “Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?” (Proverbs 20:6) So whatever an individual boasts of, or the society displays about the good deeds of men is not a matter but the intention behind it counts.
OUR INTENTIONS WILL BE JUDGED
We all clearly know that one day we will stand before God to be judged for our works and words. No doubt about it. But do we know that more than being judged for our works and words we will be judged for why we did or said so? Paul writes to the Corinthians saying, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” (1 Corinthians 4:5) So, what men actually do not know of, that is the reasons why we did those good works – for example, why we fed the hungry, took care of the orphans and the sick, why we talked good, caring words, and even why we served God will all be brought to light. Did we do all these out of genuine love and care, and because God wanted us to do, or to gain popularity, fame and good name from our neighbours and the society, or even worse was it for selfish gains?
THINGS DONE OUT OF GENUINE LOVE WILL BE WEIGHED
Only the things we did or said out of genuine love for God and men will carry some weight before God. That is why the whole of the Law of Moses has been shrunk to just two by Jesus Christ – Love God and love man. Our motive behind anything that we do or talk should just be LOVE. “Let all that you do be done with love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). Any overgenerous deeds will account to nothing according to the Scripture if it is done without any reason of love. “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3).
OUR INTENTIONS WILL BE TESTED
We know that Job was a blameless and upright man, who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:8). But Satan raised doubts about Job’s intentions in serving God. “.. Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” (Job 1:9-11; Job 2:5) It was a challenge between God and Satan about Job’s intention in fearing God and leading a righteous life. So, even if we live to be super-righteous and good in this world, our motives behind our extravagant living will be put to test. Let us all cry out to God to search our hearts and know our concerns to see if there are any wicked ways in us (Psalm 139:23-24).
GOOD INTENTION MISUNDERSTOOD
Very often we are misunderstood by people around us when our intentions are pure and out of love. But we can do nothing about this most of the times. There are instances in the Scripture when untainted intentions were misunderstood.
i) DAVID’S INTENTION MISUNDERSTOOD BY HANUN
When David heard that the king of Ammon died, he sent his servants to comfort and show kindness to the dead king’s son Hanun in return for the kindness that his father had done to David. But Hanun and his servants miserably misunderstood David’s kindness and suspected that David had sent them to spy their country and it ended up in a great battle (2 Samuel 10:1-19). Here we see that David could do nothing to prove his intention but to fight back the battle.
ii) ASKING FOR LAND EAST OF JORDAN MISUNDERSTOOD
The tribes of Reuben and Gad found that the land in the east of Jordan was so good for the plenty of their cattle and it would be hard for them to go across the Jordan with all of their livestock. But Moses misunderstood their motive contemplating that they did not want to fight the other enemies to conquer the promised land of Canaan. But when they defended their genuine cause and promised to support the other tribes in conquering Canaan, their cause was cognized and they were given the land (Numbers 32). At times we need to endure the misunderstandings even of our spiritual leaders and elucidate to them the honest purpose for our action.
iii) THE ALTAR BUILT BY THE EASTERN TRIBES MISUNDERSTOOD
The two and a half tribes of the Israelites – Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh built an altar by Jordan as ‘a Witness that the Lord is God’ (Joshua 22:34). But when the other Israelites in the other side of Jordan heard about this altar, they misunderstood that they built the altar to offer sacrifices not to the Lord, their God and they came for war (Joshua 22:11-19). But as they had a courteous negotiation, they understood the intention of building the altar and went back in peace. So polite and patient discussion can at times help us overcome these misunderstood motives.
iv) LETTER FROM THE SYRIAN KING MISUNDERSTOOD BY THE ISRAEL KING
A letter accompanied with silver and gold from the Syrian king to the Israelite king asking for a Syrian leper captain to be healed was terribly misunderstood. The Syrian king misunderstood the letter that the Israelite king wanted to wage war with him and he tore his clothes. But the prophet Elisha heard this and took the responsibility of healing the leper and brought the misapprehension to an end (2 Kings 5:1-14). There are many instances of the interception of the servants of God to bring a conclusion to such misunderstandings.
WRONG INTENTION BEFORE GOD
Most of us pray every day, read and meditate the Scriptures everyday but we feel unaccepted and are spiritually dissatisfied. As we read the deeds of Cain and Abel, both of them went with offerings unto the Lord God. Cain brought ‘AN OFFERING OF THE FRUIT OF THE GROUND TO THE LORD’, while Abel brought ‘THE BEST PORTIONS OF THE FIRSTBORN LAMBS’ (Genesis 4:3-4). Any offering to the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind will be accepted (Matthew 22:37). Any offering to the Lord should cost something valuable to us – as David said, “I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24). See, our worship, prayer, offering and other services to the Lord should cost us our time, strength, money and any other best thing we own. Abraham was willing to offer even Isaac at the altar. So, anything that we do unto God just like that have all the possibilities to become erroneous.
Our prayers are not answered because our motives are wrong (James 4:3), as the younger son took all his wealth and wasted them in riotous living (Luke 15:13; Luke 15:30)
GOD KNOWS OUR INTENTIONS
There is this very popular verse that we all know that man looks at the outward appearance but God sees our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7). He has searched us and knows us thoroughly, even our thoughts from afar, and our words even before we utter them (Psalm 139:1-4). The people in the synagogue asked Jesus if it was right to heal a man with a shrivelled arm on the Sabbath? Their intention was not in the following of the Law of Moses but to bring a charge against Him. Jesus knew their intention (Matthew 12:10). While betraying Jesus, Judas greeted and kissed Him. But knowing Judas’ intention, Jesus asked, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48)
Once the Pharisees asked Jesus if it was lawful to pay taxes? Jesus knew that their intention was to trap Him in His words and rebuked them (Matthew 22:15-18). At the same time there were cities of refuge even for an assassin who without any wrong intention slayed another by mistake (Numbers 35:11).
WITH RIGHT INTENTION WE CAN SEE GOD
Let us therefore plead God to purify our intentions by creating a clean heart and renewing the right spirit within us (Psalm 51:10). Our motives can be made clean by guarding it according to the Word of God (Psalm 119:9). Let us live with pure hearts and see God (Matthew 5:8).
