Core Drivers
“They do all their deeds to be seen by others…” ~Matthew 23:5
Of all the things Christ could have said about the Pharisees, this is the most damning: “They do all their deeds to be seen by others.” It exposes the core driver behind everything they do. The term “core driver” comes from the world of personality tests. It describes who we are at the most basic level, predicting how we will respond in every human interaction. Are we agreeable, or do we tend to speak our minds? Are we conscientious or more pragmatic, outgoing or reserved, driven or laid back, open or closed, passionate or stable? There is, however, another more ultimate core driver: are we driven to be seen by God or by men? For the Pharisees, the answer was simple but not very pretty: They did all their deeds to be seen by others. What about you? Why do you do all your deeds? What drives you?
Whether we realize it or not, the Pharisees’ problem is a problem for us all. None of us like hearing others entertain a critical assessment of who we are or what we have said and done. In public, we watch our manners and put our best foot forward; we mind our Ps and Qs, as the English say. That’s true for us all. The question facing us this morning is not so much whether we are bothered by the eyes of men but whether they control us. Are they our principal motivation?
There are several telltale signs of whether we struggle with an unhealthy fear of man. The most revealing, in my experience, is prayer. Robert Murray M'Cheyne once remarked, “What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more.” Few things better reveal the bent of my own soul than how I am doing in prayer. How can you know if you really feel the weight of God’s glory, love who He is at the core of His being, hate who you are at the core of your sin nature, or hunger and thirst for righteousness? Well, the answer is simple: you need only to listen to yourself pray. What about my relationship to other people? How much do you love your spouse, your children, your neighbor, and your enemy? The answer is the same: listen when you pray. Public declension always begins in private, and private declension almost always begins in prayer.
Another telling indicator is this: how do you feel when others misinterpret your words or actions as bad, even though you know your conscience is clean before God? Once again, these are awkward moments for us all. None of us enjoy being misunderstood or maligned by a falsely critical eye. But if such moments leave you completely bent out of shape, you probably struggle with an unhealthy fear of man–the kind that brings a snare (Proverbs 29:25).
A third and final indicator: When you are out and about doing unseen and unnoticed good deeds, do you find yourself fantasizing that others might “accidentally” discover what you have done? Or is it enough to know that your heavenly Father sees what you did in secret and will find His own way of rewarding His grace in your life?
As we close out our devotional this morning, let me leave you with the closing words of Psalm 139:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” ~Psalm 139:23–24
Lord, show me if there is any core driver in my life that is grievous–grievous to You and bringing grief to me or those around me. Lead me away from such bypaths, and lead me further up and further into Your presence, where the only thing that matters is a child lost in the wonder of his Father’s glory and happy with his Father’s smile.