The Motive of the Father's Love
Greetings and good morning brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series
where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years,
the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them
with you. This morning we seek to understand the motive of the Father's Love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Motive of the Father's Love
"Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up;
doth not behave unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth." 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, Verses
4-8.
Brothers and sisters, the righteousness of our acts is determined by our motive. When we act, we act
out of our value system, out of our deepest loyalties and highest hopes. Some do not have very high
loyalties and hopes. Their value system is tied to the immediate present. To uncover our true motive,
we must be observed over time. The trueness of an act is not only a reflection of the motive but of
wisdom as well. Thus we may have a true motive, but lack of wisdom causes the act to be evil in
content. But if our motive is true, we will adjust our acts following the painful consequences which
are the reflections of wisdom's lack. And we will continually adjust our acts until they slowly
harmonize with our true motives.
But this is not the case with someone with an untrue motive. Someone untruly motivated will not
adjust his acts upward but seeks to actualize his motive regardless of the consequences. Over time,
such a one's motives are seen as selfish. The effective content of goodness that an individual
possesses is inversely proportional to the content of selfishness. The more selfish an individual is,
the less goodness there is in him. Conversely the more goodness that an individual has in her, the
less selfish she is. Absolute goodness equals absolute unselfishness.
The Father looks beyond the act to discover the motive. He is perfectly patient with us because He
sees our true purpose. He knows that if we have a true motive, no matter how deficient our wisdom,
we will eventually adjust our acts so that they are consistent. As we pursue the Father's will, we
should display the same attitude, one of hopeful and loving waiting. As long as an individual is
morally and spiritually alive, longsuffering is the attitude of goodness toward the evildoer.
Brothers and sisters, we should display to all onlookers the proper way to suffer. Our quality of
suffering should be poised with such love and compassion, saturated with such mercy and
forgiveness that even the very act of our suffering should be a revelation of the Father and an
instrument that causes all who behold us to choose light over darkness.
There are compensations for suffering for the sake of doing the Father's will. Everything we do
subject to the Father's will advances the cause of goodness. Thus, to suffer quietly, serenely without
blaming others is a manifestation of goodness. Spiritual insight, understanding and wisdom, courage
and strength become a bona fide reality when confronted with the choice of spiritual blindness,
ignorance, impulsiveness, cowardice, and weakness. To be loyal to the Father's will when all
material associations are rapidly disintegrating requires a kind of loyalty and bravery that transcends
anything material and temporal. To exercise long-suffering and wisdom when the pressure of the
moment indicates impatience and hastiness requires insight that can only be known by living faith.
To experience these qualities is to experience goodness.
Love, divine love, absolutely insists that long-suffering be displayed in the face of cruelty and
injustice, and this the entire time that the suffering is taking place. We must help others in whatever
ways we, the children of light, can help. It is not acceptable to divine love to retreat to lick our
wounds when we have been temporarily wounded in one of our struggles with error and evil. Divine
love uses mortal and material weakness as an open flood gate to allow immortal and spiritual
strength to flood the vision of all onlookers. When we are weak, He is strong. Divine love is
confident of its victory over all its foes. Divine love is victory!
Divine love insists on kindness. No matter how hurt we may be, we must never show anger. We
must realize that while others may hurt our feelings, only we can make ourselves feel badly. Only
we can block the flow of divine goodness. We should not yield to the temptation to vent our
frustrations on others. We should realize that this practice helps no one. Love insists that goodness
be returned for evil. Kindness in the face of evil doing is one of the manifestations of divine
goodness. By its inherent goodness, the motive of love is to make everyone like it is--good.
This concludes today's message on understanding the motive of the Father's love. We hope you find
something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day. Until next time, this
is Dr. James Perry
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Motive of the Father's Love
