Why Do You Do What You Do?
We like to think that we are complex people, that we think through our every action, and that we do the best things. We like to think that we know more than the next person, that our motives are pure, and that we often put others first.
The truth is– we have the same weakness of every man and woman that has come before us.
In the Christmas movie, White Christmas, the Haines sisters get our two heroes to view their act because of a relationship with “their brother from the army.” Bob makes the remark that, “Everyone has a little larceny running in them” to which Betty immediately protests, but even she is looking out for her own pride when she objects.
All a person’s ways seem right to him,
Proverbs 16:2
but the Lord weighs his motives.
Our motives are worth far more than our actions. We can see it in the amount of effort we put forth toward an activity or how we treat a difficult undertaking. We use our reason, logic, and self-interest to rationalize, justify, and seek to make ourselves look right to both ourselves and those watching, but if we’re not careful we can have that little angle work out for our best interest.
It takes real change of heart to spot our selfishness– sometimes it will take someone else to spot it in us. And when it is seen, what is our reaction? Are we quick to fix our motives, or do we fall back to self-justification?
The true man of moral character, the leader we all want to follow, is the one who puts others first, invests in the good of the team, and has the motivation to match the action. Are we that kind of person, or are we still stuck justifying ourselves?
