God knows motives behind every act.  Therefore we are to trust God when things do not work out the way we hoped.

A salesman will spend all day working up a quote for a bid yet lose the contract.  He later learns the contract was already awarded and he spent hours on something that was just a formality. 

Many times a company interviews people as a decoy leading potential job seekers to think they have a chance at a position.  It’s disappointing to find out a good buddy of the big boss was preselected and awarded the job.

Sometimes friends will smile at us and say encouraging things while their real motive is to earn our trust enough to let them borrow something from us.

Motives are real and we all have them.  However pure motives can make a positive difference in the lives of others.

A genuine act of love with no strings attached is noticed by God.  Picking up the phone to call someone we miss or dropping a card in the mail to someone who needs cheer are acts of kindness that have a sincere motive.  The things that we naturally do such as carpentry or sewing can be used to help others.  Others enjoy cooking or music and use those gifts in the church.  None of these acts of kindness have strings attached.  None of these actions require a motive because it’s just what we do.

If opportunities or friends pass us by we are to give thanks because God knows all hearts.  Would we really want a contract that was preselected?  What strings are attached for the winner of a bid like that?.  Do we truly want a job where we are under constant pressure to impress a boss knowing he preferred someone else?  How could we ever feel comfortable around the type of friends who want us to be more than who God made us to be?

For ever closed door, God knows all motives involved.  His divine protection has played an important role in our lives.  Therefore it’s an important thing to keep a daily check on our own motives so God can use us to glorify Him and to help us along the way.

Jeremiah 17:9-10  New Living Translation

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.   Who really knows how bad it is?  But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”