Motives & Ambition

Question: How do we go about our lives-glorifying God without drawing the attention to ourselves? How can we do good deeds and motivate ourselves to be something better with pure motives?

This is something I am having a big problem with. I want the people around me to see a man who loves the lord and carries out God's commands, yes, but I don't want it to be because I want to posses that image. I genuinely want to carry out God's will and be a vessel of his love to the world, and when people look at me I want them to see what God's love can accomplish.

I want to shed all forms of pride. I want to help people that think they are unloved. There are millions of people in all countries of the world that have never felt an unconditional love that was based purely on the fact that they're one of God's children created in his image. I would love to reach out to those people. But I feel like anything I do that can be publicly observed would be done because I want people to see how great of a person I am, which is completely wrong.
On the flip side, I do want people to know who I am. I know who I am, I am his and he is mine. People SHOULD see that in my life.

How can I motivate myself to live a publicly Christian lifestyle but keep those motives pure?

—Austin, Wisconsin

Answer: Jesus said, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."-Matthew 10:39 (ESV). The question is, as I understand it, doing ministry without letting yourself getting in the way, right? Or possibly ambition?

Pride is a dangerous thing to be sure, but one cannot be so consumed with potential pride that he/she never does anything for the kingdom.

Ambition for the kingdom is good, provided that our ambition serves us to be the best that we can be with the gifts that we have given. Ambition is a bad thing if we are doing it to be better than someone else or to get glory for ourselves. If we are doing ministry because of how people are going to perceive us, then our ambition is wrong and it's sin. ... See More

What I tell people to do is this: Do the ministry to the best of your ability and leave the results to God. Don't be concerned with your name and how others perceive you. You cannot affect how someone perceives you. Realize you are living life and doing ministry before the audience of one. I think the best remedy is to focus on the Lord and let Him take care of the rest. As soon as we get caught up in thinking about what I have done or what I am doing for the kingdom, then we are getting glory, not the Lord. And that's bad.

Secondly, we abide in Him. John 15 is a profound passage. In John 15 our Lord says, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing." When we operate in our own strength, then the results don't last. When we operate in His strength, with His Words abiding in and leading us, then we are abiding in Him and God does much more than we could imagine.

Thirdly, realize God doesn't need you; He chooses to use you. This past year God broke me. He broke me hard. I am a college graduate and am almost finished with my second master’s degree. I have been on staff at four different churches and God has blessed each time. But, I began to think that I was God's gift. I went to the right school, did the right thing, prayed the right prayer, and did it the right way. God was working. There was only one problem: I thought that I had the formula that enabled that enabled God to work. I looked at some pretty prestigious jobs and some good churches, but do you know what happened? Nothing. I didn't get any of them. I couldn't even get a part time job. I have a wife and two kids and I couldn't get a job that paid $9 an hour. And do you know what happened after that? We became homeless. We lived with family and friends. It was terrible, but also a great blessing. God broke me during that time. He reminded me that though I have "Abraham as {my} father" God was able to raise up sons from the stones (Luke 3:8). Meaning, God didn't need me. He didn't need my education; He didn't need my background. He didn't need me at all. He chose to use me. It was a spiritual beat down of sorts that I needed. He put me on the anvil and beat me into the shape where He could use me for His purpose, where He would receive glory.

After I was broken, He lifted me up to where I am now, but the lesson I learned was unforgettable. When I am constantly thinking about myself, then I am not losing myself for His glory. When I am consumed with Him, then I am not cognizant of what I am doing any longer. I am losing my life in order to find it.

So, Austin, focus on Christ, fill yourself up with Him, and then He will flow out of you. Drink of Him deeply and often. Taste of Him and see that He is good. And then from you will come Christ. You will exude Him from the pores of your soul and people will smell Christ in you, for you will carry the fragrance or aroma of Christ everywhere you go.

My friend was raped...

Question: My friend has a question, she asked a pastor and he just couldn’t answer it. She was raped, and is on many meds for a disease she has. Her and her husband always practice safe sex for this reason, but since she was raped, no protection was used, thus resulting in her pregnancy. If she gets an abortion, can she still go to Heaven?

Answer: Now, here are some questions that I have for the woman. While I can't imagine the horror that she endured in the rape, the question is, is the baby at fault? Meaning, is it the baby's fault that she is pregnant? The obvious answer is, "No."

Have you ever heard of the name Pam Stenzel? I heard her speak once at a youth conference about a teenage girl who was 17 and was raped. The rape happened to result in a pregnancy. But she knew it wasn't the baby's fault that she was raped. The baby was innocent in the matter. While the baby was the result of rape, the child shouldn't bear the penalty for her father's terrible decision. So, the 17-year-old mother decided to give the child up for adoption. As Pam was relating this story to the group I was in, she said, "You know I am so glad that she decided to give up that child for adoption, because if she didn't I wouldn't be here today." Get it? Pam was the child. Her mother had been raped, but rather than kill the baby, her mother decided to give her up. And God is using Pam in unimaginable ways. She says, "My mother was a teenage girl and my father was a rapist, but what man meant for evil, God meant for good."

I don't think aborting the child is the answer. Adding murder to rape doesn't remove the rape, it only adds murder to it. It would be best to give the child a chance. There are thousands of couples out there that can't have kids of their own and would jump at the opportunity to take this child. And if you need some referrals, I would be glad to put you into touch with some of them that are looking for children to adopt.

I'm not sure if this helps you or not, but please consider what I have written. God wants this child to live and have a future.

But, you have asked a question and I have hesitated to answer it, simply because the question itself is faulty. Your question: “Can she still go to heaven?” is asked on the premise that she intentionally chooses to kill her child. Meaning, she wants to intentionally sin in the face of God and then ask for forgiveness later, but this is to presume upon God’s grace. While God does forgive all of our sin, we do not choose to presume upon God’s forgiveness by deliberately sinning against Him. Surely, God can and will forgive all who ask for it (1 John 1:9). But, we don’t take forgiveness lightly by choosing to sin and then presume upon His grace. As the apostle Paul wrote, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”—Romans 6:1-2 (ESV)

My advice would be to reconsider your question. Rather than asking, “Will she go to heaven?” How about taking a few steps back and asking the question, “What does God want me to do with this child?” I think that asking that question reveals a degree of spiritual maturity in the face of horrendous injustice. The response is no longer about what sin is allowable or excusable to allow one into heaven, but rather moves the question to the realm of discipleship where the cross is taken up in the face of great tribulation, enabling Christ to be seen as her expiation.

Expiation is when Christ takes away the stain of sin upon our soul. Whether it is through sin that we have done or sins done to us that have hurt us beyond our ability, Christ can take away all of the pains and hurts of sin. As 1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”—1 John 1:7 (ESV)

I pray that God would sustain her during this difficult time. And I pray that God may touch your friend in a way that she can see Christ’s atoning sacrifice as not only her own, but for the man that raped her. I also pray that God will take this child and raise him or her up for His glory, a vessel of His immense grace. May God be glorified in this situation. Amen.