Bible verses about "motives" | Moffatt

¹ Do not believe every spirit, beloved, but test the spirits to see if they come from God; for many false prophets have emerged in the world.

¹⁷ Indeed, whatever you say or do, let everything be done in dependence on the Lord Jesus, giving thanks in his name to God the Father.

¹² we are not to be like Cain, who belonged to the evil One and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's just.

¹ Where do conflicts, where do wrangles come from, in your midst? Is it not from these passions of yours that war among your members? ² You crave, and miss what you want: you envy and covet, but you cannot acquire: you wrangle and fight — you miss what you want because you do not ask God for it; ³ you do ask and you do not get it, because you ask with the wicked intention of spending it on your pleasures. ⁴ (Wanton creatures! do you not know that the world's friendship means enmity to God? Whoever, then, chooses to be the world's friend, turns enemy to God. ⁵ What, do you consider this is an idle word of scripture? — 'He yearns jealously for the spirit he set within us.') ⁶ Yet he gives grace more and more: thus it is said, The haughty God opposes, but to the humble he gives grace. ⁷ Well then, submit yourselves to God; resist the devil, and he will fly from you: ⁸ draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Lament and mourn and weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to depression; ¹⁰ humble yourselves before the Lord, and then he will raise you up. ¹¹ [vss 11 & 12 follow 2:13] Do not defame one another, brothers; he who defames or judges his brother defames and judges the Law; and if you judge the Law, you pass sentence on it instead of obeying it. ¹² One alone is the legislator, who passes sentence; it is He who is able to save and to destroy; who are you, to judge your neighbour? ¹³ Come now, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we are going to such and such a city; we shall spend a year there trading and making money" — ¹⁴ you who know nothing about to-morrow! For what is your life? You are but a mist, which appears for a little and then vanishes. ¹⁵ You ought rather to say, "If the Lord will, we shall live to do this or that." ¹⁶ But here you are, boasting in your proud pretensions! All such boasting is wicked. ¹⁷ [follows 2:26] Whoever, then, knows what is right to do and does not do it, that is a sin for him.

⁵ So do not criticize at all; the hour of reckoning has still to come, when the Lord will come to bring dark secrets to the light and to reveal life's inner aims and motives. Then each of us will get his meed of praise from God.

⁵ Whereas the aim of the Christian discipline is the love that springs from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith.

¹ Take care not to practise your charity before men in order to be noticed; otherwise you get no reward from your Father in heaven. No,

³ never acting for private ends or from vanity, but humbly considering each other the better man, ⁴ no, God has attested our fitness to be entrusted with the gospel, and so we tell the gospel not to satisfy men but to satisfy the God who tests our hearts.

¹⁰ Now is that 'appealing to the interests of men' or of God? Trying to 'satisfy men'? Why, if I still tried to give satisfaction to human masters, I would be no servant of Christ.

¹ Take care not to practise your charity before men in order to be noticed; otherwise you get no reward from your Father in heaven. No, ² When you give alms, make no flourish of trumpets like the hypocrites in the synagogues and the streets, so as to win applause from men; I tell you truly, they do get their reward. ³ When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so as to keep your alms secret; then your Father who sees what is secret will reward you openly. ⁵ Also, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they like to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street-corners, so as to be seen by men; I tell you truly, they do get their reward. ⁶ When you pray, go into your room and shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you. ⁷ Do not pray by idle rote like pagans, for they suppose they will be heard the more they say; ⁸ you must not copy them; your Father knows your needs before you ask him. ⁹ Let this be how you pray: 'our Father in heaven, thy name be revered, ¹⁰ thy Reign begin, thy will be done on earth as in heaven! ¹¹ give us to-day our bread for the morrow, ¹² and forgive us our debts as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors, ¹³ and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.' ¹⁴ For if you forgive men their trespasses, then your heavenly Father will forgive you; ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive men, your Father will not forgive your trespasses either. ¹⁶ When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they look woebegone to let men see they are fasting; I tell you truly, they do get their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that your fast may be seen not by men but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.