In his letter to the Philippian church, Paul lamented the fact that certain ones of his fellows in the preaching ministry were engaged in spiritual work out of unseemly motivations. He said of them: “Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will…” (Phil. 1:15). He went on to express his own appreciation for the fact that the gospel was being heralded, for whatever reason, and out of whatever motivation. And, of course, this is what all of us should do. We ought to be happy whenever and wherever Jesus Christ is being proclaimed. It is not ours to judge the hearts of others or question their sincerity.

But this will not rectify or indemnify those who do things from wrong motives. If we act out of jealousy or even hatred, we may seek to accomplish something that may be helpful to someone else or even glorifying to God. Others may have no idea what our real reason for what we are doing may be. People cannot know our hearts or read our minds. Therefore they can never really be sure why we do what we do.

But the Lord can and does. He knows what we are thinking and he knows why we do the things we do. If we are simply acting out of selfish ambition or self-promotion, God is fully aware of what is in our hearts and minds (Acts 15:8; Rom. 8:27; Rev. 2:23). We may put on our best face and fool everyone else in the room. But we never fool God. He is never deceived by our machinations. He is never taken in by our best efforts to deceive him.

Thus, it is important for us not only to do good things, but to do them for all of the right reasons. Remember that Jesus condemned the Pharisees because they did all of their good works “to be seen of men.” He did not deny that many of their works were wholesome, but pointed out that their wrong-headed reasons for what they did spoiled all that they accomplished that was worthwhile. We may be able to fool others into thinking that our actions are for worthy and righteous causes, but the Lord is never deceived by the charades that we employ to cover our true reasons for doing what we do.

So, in doing good remember to examine your motivations and keep a close watch on your heart, because you can be very sure that God is monitoring not only our actions but also our motives for what we do. It is best to uncover those things now, repent of them and correct them, before we stand before the judgment seat of God and give answer for what cannot then be changed or corrected.