Proverbs 16:2 ESV
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.
[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A2&version=ESV]
What does God judge? Every action has three parts: what’s intended, what’s done, and what results. We humans have an inconsistent standard for using these. We tend to choose which one to judge by not by what’s best but by what gets us the result we want. In other words, if we want to condemn, we choose the version that looks worst; if we want to endorse, we choose the option that looks best. So when I, as a hypothetical toddler, take the cookies out of the cookie jar, I judged by the consequences- satisfied hunger- or the intent- need for food-, rather than the means: theft. As this example should imply, this process is essentially automatic in us; we bias ourselves by instinct more than choice. The question remains, however: what is God’s standard? This standard, remember, must be also our standard, if adapted to our inferior knowledge and station.
The hard truth is this: all three matter. Ideally, we’d do the right thing for the right reason with the right results. That’s God’s every act, because He is sovereign, but not for us. We are sinners in a sinful world, and so we tend to do the right thing for the wrong reason with very mixed results (or some other combination). Amidst all this, though, we can produce a hierarchy between them (and then collapse the hierarchy into a unity, because theology always ends up circling in on itself).
For humankind, the eventual results are the least weighty. We are not responsible for all that happens in the world, and to claim such is to claim God’s place in the universe. Conspiracy theories are terrifying, and some of them have truth in their bones, but humans have only so much control. The results of an action, as divorced from the action itself and the motives, are in God’s hand. This does not make them irrelevant. If I know that my actions will cause harm (are likely to cause harm, will contribute to causing harm), I bear the responsibility of that knowledge. The knowledge of consequence at the time of acting matters in the moral calculus; if I know that eating the cookies now will stop them from being available for my sister’s birthday party, I am responsible for that harm, should I eat the cookies. So consequences known at the time do matter, even as we must never arrogate God’s prerogative of knowing and ordaining all which will result. Note this absolving is not all good news; if my act, of which I foresaw evil consequences, has only good results, I still bear the guilt of acting towards those evil consequences, regardless of their non-eventuation.
The next step into the mud is the action itself. Doing the right thing may not be enough, but it counts for a lot. Simply put, it’s possible to do the right thing for the wrong reason, but it’s not possible to have a right reason for doing the wrong thing (though it is possible to be mistaken as to the circumstances or what the right thing is). I can have a ‘good’ reason, something that makes sense emotionally, but I can’t have a right reason. Thus, the action is an integral part of righteousness; God does not call us merely to have kind hearts, He calls us to have hearts that act kindly. Thus, ‘faith without works’ is dead because it is not true faith at all (Jam. 2:17); thus, love without the actions of love is hate, is cruelty (Heb. 12:5-6). The action itself matters; the action is what we choose to do, and we must be certain when we act that this is the right thing to do.
At the base of the moral judgement lies the motive. As noted above, the motive is not easily detached from the act; it characterizes it through-and-through. The best of motives, when it results in evil deeds, is by that fruit proven false (Matt. 12;33). Yet, as this Proverb states, the motive in an integral and essential element. The man who desires to love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength alone can be truly pleasing to God (Mark 12:30). The unregenerate man, the man who does not know God and consequently hates Him, this man cannot truly do good. The man who does not know God, as per Psalms 14 and 53, can only desire evil, at the end of the day. Thus, the greatest heroics of the wicked are ‘polluted garments’ (Is. 64:6), their greatest kindness ‘cruelty’ (Prov. 12:10), and their every deed essentially perverted by a wickedness of motive. Only those whom He has called can do good, having been given hearts of flesh, hearts capable of right intent (Ez. 11:9), and having eyes which can truly perceive the world with ever-lessening self-deception (Rom. 1:20), so know the right and do it.
All three come together as one, in the end. Right motives (and a good eye for the world) combine to lead to a good action; in the blessing of God, this leads to a right consequence. The thread which holds all this together, in us, is God. God is the judge, yes, and God will condemn the wicked. Every single act of sin, moreover, every fault and every wrongdoing in our history, He condemns them all; for each He grants damnation. Yet, His people are saved. How? Each sin is judged, yes, and every sinner damned. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross, however, bears the sin of His people (Is. 53:10-12). For our sins He is damned; for our sins He died. By His righteousness, then, He lives. More, by His righteousness alone do we live, rising from the grave of our sin (Rom. 6:1-5). Our motives are broken, even when regenerate; our deeds are flawed, even when well-intended; the consequences are strangely painful, even when we could not have foreseen it. Through it all, though, He lives, and we live in Him, redeemed by His grace.
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.