Discerning Motives
I have been teaching about the Book of Job this week in my Old Testament class. The opening is always a challenge for me. The "accuser" who interacts with God believes that Job is only righteous because he knows God will give him wonderful rewards. God seems to believe that Job is righteous purely out of love and reverence for God. And so the challenge--the bet--to find out the truth. Job proves God is right. God wins this bet. Job remains righteous even without the expected rewards.

But the passage always raises the question for me about my motivation for good moral conduct or for the choices I make. One of my students said that the question in the passage was like my asking if they study because they want to know the subject matter, or only to get a grade. The opinion seemed to be that the grade was the only reason for learning. A little disappointing.

But I got to thinking about discernment and the reason we really do want to know what God desires of us when we make our choices. Would I, would you, make a choice purely because we see it as the way to reverence and honor God? And does reverence for God always include a truly deep respect for myself as well?