What lies beneath is the base upon which all else rests <3

I am reading a small book about praying for our leadership. This morning I read a section about motives and it jumped out at me so profoundly, I have decided to mull it over a bit with you so it sticks in my head. 

In the opening paragraphs the author talked about how motives are like icebergs. It reminded me of a printed photo I taped to our computer desk back when you would purchase shiny photo paper and use a ton of ink to print a picture off of your Gateway desktop. 

Not to digress, but the Gateway came with a tower hard drive that needed plenty o’room under your desk. In case anyone doesn’t remember those days. 

The photo was a bi-section of above and beneath the water. Since AI wasn’t a thing, I am assuming it was a legitimate photograph. While a huge peak of craggy ice rose above pristine blue water, underneath you could see the massive base that supported it. 

I used it as a reminder to the class I taught at that time and to myself that what people see of us out in public should reflect a much, much, much larger base of time spent with God preparing us to go out and be light in the world. 

Today’s example was a twist on that and said that what we see people do and what we do is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. A little under and still somewhat visible is our attitude about what we are doing and then buried out of sight, lurking like an enormous underground mountain is our motive. 

Our motives are complex and tricky and often we are fooled by the tip and the visible part of our life work. Because our motives flow from our heart and, as God word assures us, the heart is deceitful. 

As I ponder this, I think of some examples. Someone may serve generously in a variety of spaces. They look like a selfless servant. The fruit of their work is long hours filling in whenever someone asks. But lurking underneath the motive could be a desire to recognized, valued and loved or guilt prompted by what others would think if this one didn’t volunteer. 

Since all we do is to be for the glory of God, both of these motives fall short. But how do we know and sort through what can be a mixed bag of motives all twined together and seemingly ignored under the surface of our good works. 

So we must bring ourselves before the Lord regularly, reading His word and setting our hearts and minds on His thoughts so that our sneaky little hearts won’t try to fool us into thinking our hearts are pure. 

Only God can purify our hearts. The author pointed out that we can not manufacture a pure and clean heart. But thankfully, the disciplines of Scripture study and meditation, prayer and reflection in the presence of God can put us in a position to receive a clean heart. 

The writer reminded us that we must pray, as King David did, for a pure heart. 

In Psalm 51:10, David asked God to create in him a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within him. 

This is a prayer we can pray for ourselves, our family and friends and for our leaders. 

Blessings, friends. 

Have a good weekend. 

You are loved <3