Are motives all that matter to God or do actions matter too? We read in James that faith without works is dead. So what good is my good motive if it is not acted upon?<\/p>\n\t
We are judged by what we do, qualified by why we acted as we did.<\/p>\n
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad<\/em>” (II Corinthians 5:10).<\/p>\n
“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<\/em>” (I Corinthians 4:5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There are times when people do the right thing, but they do it with improper motives. As an example: “Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from good will: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel<\/em>” (Philippians 1:15-17). Even though some preached for the wrong reason, Paul found a reason to rejoice in the fact that still Christ was being taught to people. Yes, those who did the right thing for the wrong reason would eventually give an account of themselves to God, but meanwhile, the gospel was being spread.<\/p>\n
What Paul warns in I Corinthians 4:5 is that we, as people, can only look at what a person does. We can’t guess as to why someone acts as they do. We need to keep our limitations in mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Are motives all that matter to God or do actions matter too? We read in James that faith without works is dead. So what good is my good motive if it is not acted upon? Answer: We are judged by what we do, qualified by why we acted as we did. “For we must…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[410],"class_list":["post-18971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-judgment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40096,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-that-everyone-has-to-give-an-account-to-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":18971,"position":0},"title":"What does it mean that everyone has to give an account to God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What does it mean that everyone has to give an account to God (Christ)? Answer: See:\u00a0What Will Happen on Judgment Day? \"But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50848,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-see-myself-as-someone-who-is-fake\/","url_meta":{"origin":18971,"position":1},"title":"I see myself as someone who is fake","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeffrey, I just read your answer to \"I have a hard time controlling my thoughts. I'm scared I might not be saved,\" and I was wondering: how do we fix the intentions of our heart, so we will have true godly intentions? Rather than OCD, I have ADHD,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13308,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-not-to-eat-meat\/","url_meta":{"origin":18971,"position":2},"title":"Is it a sin not to eat meat?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a vegetarian, I am also Catholic. I read a page on your web site:\u00a0Did Jesus Eat Meat? This subject has always been a struggle for me. My question to you is: Would you agree that when we are judged will we also be judged upon our merits\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44379,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-father-just-died-can-he-be-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":18971,"position":3},"title":"My father just died! Can he be in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have sad news, my father just died of an overdose! Are there any verses that you can point out to me that say he can be in Heaven! I'm so scared he is in hell because he said he was mad at God and all. Answer: I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50964,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-cousin-repented-just-before-he-died-of-a-drug-overdose-is-he-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":18971,"position":4},"title":"My cousin repented just before he died of a drug overdose. Is he in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My cousin recently committed suicide by drug overdose but by the time we got to him, he was lying on the floor still conscious. He repented then died a few minutes later. Is he in heaven? Please help. Answer: \"Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40961,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-will-the-judgment-be-like\/","url_meta":{"origin":18971,"position":5},"title":"What will the judgment be like?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What will the judgment be like for everyone? Will it be just between God and the person or a public event where everyone will be able to see or hear the account of things the person did, every secret and sin in his or her life? What's the difference\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}