{"id":3695,"date":"2018-03-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/?p=3695"},"modified":"2024-08-23T15:49:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T15:49:09","slug":"profession-vs-motivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/profession-vs-motivation\/","title":{"rendered":"PROFESSION vs. MOTIVATION"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matthew 8:19-20     <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen a certain scribe came and said to Him, \u2018Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.\u2019 And Jesus said to him, \u2018Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.\u2019\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professing something is easy. It\u2019s easy to say you want to do or to follow, but the real test of what you profess is in the doing of what you profess. The scribe came and made a grand profession to follow Jesus anywhere, but Jesus seeing the heart of the man replied showing that there were no material benefits associated with following Him. The only way Jesus\u2019 response in verse 20 makes sense is that Jesus had secret information about the motivation for which the scribe wanted to follow Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know that Jesus reads our hearts and knows that which we have not spoken. Our loud spiritual professions and proclamations do not impress him. He goes deeper into the motive of why we are saying and doing what we are saying and doing. For those who come with a sincere heart, Jesus will gladly receive. For those who come with another motive, Jesus will simply make plain the cost of following Him. Let us therefore with plain hearts and honest speech. Let our external profession match our heart motivation. Let there be no dichotomy within us; then shall Jesus respond favorably to us. \u201cLord, I confess that the heart can be very deceptive and I am sometimes deceived by my own heart. But this day, I pray that Your Spirit conducts Your own internal audit in me. Reveal where falsehood may dwell and where my words and motivations do not match. As You show me any internal dichotomy in me, I promise that by Your grace, I will work to correct them, in Jesus name. Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 8:19-20       \u201cThen a certain scribe came and said to Him, \u2018Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.\u2019 And Jesus said to him, \u2018Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.\u2019\u201d  Professing something is easy. It\u2019s easy to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-reflections-from-matthew"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t