What’s Your Motive?

¹¹And it happened one day that he (Prophet Elisha) came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there.¹²Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’ ” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.” (2 Kings 4:11-13)

This Shunammite woman had built an extra room on her house and furnished it just for the man of God, Prophet Elisha. When he realized what the Shunammite woman had done for him, he was deeply touched and wanted to bless her in return. When asked what could be done for her, she didn’t have any requests. Elisha offered her favour with the king or the top general in the land, but she didn’t accept it. The woman's lack of any requests, even in the face of such powerful offers, demonstrates her pure intentions and contentment with her life.

This woman wasn’t kind to Prophet Elisha just so she could get something from God. She didn’t give to get. However, she also wasn’t so religious that when God wanted to bless her, she refused His blessing out of false humility. The motive behind her gift was totally unselfish. She gave, expecting nothing in return. I believe there is a life lesson for all of us here.

Our giving should be with pure hearts of love for God and those to whom we give. We shouldn’t be giving just to get something in return. The Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).

“Then Mary took a pound of fragrant oil—pure and expensive nard—anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped His feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil” (John 12:3).

Nard was an oil extracted from the root of the Nard plant, grown in India. It was, as John notes, very expensive. A pound of nard equalled 300 denarii as Judas reckoned it, meaning that it cost the equivalent of nine months of salary for a working man in Jesus’ day.

Mary’s gift to Jesus was so extravagant and so radical that even His top leaders couldn’t understand it. It was purely motivated out of love for the Lord. Mary’s gift, motivated by love, became prophetic in nature as it prepared Jesus for His burial.

Now, there is nothing wrong with desiring and expecting a harvest when you sow a financial seed. However, we must reach that level of understanding that we give because we have come to recognize that all we have comes from God. We give because we want to share in the eternal reward of what God is doing by investing in the work of His kingdom. We give because God has commanded us to do so.

When you come to this level of maturity in your walk with God, you will start giving even when it is difficult because now the motivation is pure love for the Lord. This is when the real overflow starts taking place in your life, in ministry etc. Now you have reached the place where God can trust you with the big stuff because your motives are pure.

What’s Your Motive?

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