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Quite a few years ago, not long after I was saved, the Lord gave me a dream that was not very long but it was very graphic and vivid. In the dream I saw a foot, nothing else just the foot. It looked like a normal healthy foot except for a little blemish on the nail of the little toe. As I watched a hand reached down and pulled at the blemished nail. It came away from the foot, but it took all the skin with it. Now what I saw was horrible. The flesh of the foot was in a state of decomposition, parts of it completely gone. Crawling through the rotting flesh were hundreds of maggots. That was it, like I said short but graphic.

I have often thought about the dream and what it means. I would like to share some insights the Lord has given me through this dream about our view of ourselves and God’s view of us. First I want look at the elements of the dream to understand the symbolic meanings involved.

The foot symbolises foundations, motivations, our walk in life, our core values, the underlying principles on which we stand. Our feet are what we stand on, they are our foundation and without them we could not stand let alone walk. Our feet give us stability and a firm base upon which to stand against even a very strong wind.

The healthy skin symbolises outward appearances, how we tend to see things, a veneer of health and goodness.

The blemish on the nail of the little toe symbolises some problem or issue that seems to be small, insignificant, of no real importance, and does not have on impact on the over all health of the foot.

The hand which pulls the nail and skin off the foot is the Hand of God revealing the true condition of the foot.

The rotten flesh is symbolic of corruption, decay, death, sickness, and an abomination.

The maggots are symbolic of demonic influences, eating away at the dead flesh.

So what is the over all message of this dream? God was saying to me (a young Christian at the time) to look closely at my motivations, foundations, core values, underlying principles, and my walk with Him. I was to look beneath the surface, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of these things to me so that I will be fully acceptable to the eyes of the Lord. It is not enough to just do what is right, you have to do the right thing for the right reasons. God will judge us on what we have done in life and the motivations behind all that we did!

To get a biblical perspective on this lets first look in the book of Proverbs:

Proverbs 16:2

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits.

Proverbs 21:2

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.

So in our eyes what we are doing can appear pure and right, however God looks beyond the surface of it right in to our hearts and spirit to those things which motivated and prompted us to act. We can deceive ourselves in to thinking that what we are doing is right and that it is pure, however if we were it look more closely in to our heart (and be completely honest with ourselves) we will start to see our true motivations. We tend to judge things by the visible signs and by the results, if our actions achieve a good result then we have do a good thing, but God does not view it this way.

If you were to give £1000 to a ministry during a televised fund-raising event, on the surface it would seem like a good thing wouldn’t it? However, if the speaker said you would receive your healing from God and you gave in order to receive that healing then you gave with the wrong motivation.You gave with the motivation of receiving something greater in return, in other words the underlying motivation for your giving was greed. Would you have given the £1000 if the speaker only said they needed it and made on claims of you receiving anything from God in return? So what seemed right in your eyes is not right in God’s eyes. Why should we give then? Because God has clearly told us to give to that ministry, having compassion for their need, and giving with no thought to your own needs.

My friends, Jesus Christ died on the cross for us! We do not have to buy our way in to the blessings of God, He gave it to us free of charge through His Son. If you need healing it is provided through Christ, by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24) and to think you can gain this healing by offering money or anything else is an abomination and affront to Him.

The point is that if you do a good deed but have the wrong motives for doing it then in the eyes of the Lord it is a sinful thing that you have do. So before we do anything we need to look at why we are going to do it, and we have look past the obvious reasons that are at the surface. We need to look under the skin to see the real motives for what we are about to do. We have to be willing to acknowledge that we may have motives that are not entirely in line with what is acceptable in the eyes of God. We also have to be willing to deal with those motives, to remove them and only do things for the right motivations. But what are the right and wrong motivations for doing things? How can we be sure that our good deed will be seen as a good deed by God?

Wrong Motivations

The following are just a few example of the wrong kind of motivations for doing things, there are many more that this but to include them all would turn this page in to a book.

Greed: If you are doing something in order to gain from it then you may well be motivated by greed. Like in the example of giving used above, if you give in order to gain something that to you is more valuable then it may well be that you have and underlying motivation of greed in your heart. Ask yourself, “Would I still be willing to give if I were to get nothing in return?” And we need to remember that being motivated by greed can cause to not give as well, so we need question our motives before we decide not to give as well. Proverbs 15:27 He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live. If we are motivated by greed we will bring trouble in to our lives, by giving in order to gain we are in essence giving a bribe. Do you think you can buy the blessings of God? Can you bribe God in to blessing you? Any offering you give with this motivation will be seen by God as an abomination. Read Acts 8:14 to 25 to see the response to someone thinking they could buy the power to impart the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands.

Pride: Are you about to do something in order to look good, or to improve you position, or to feel good about yourself? Are you about to do it so that you can then go about telling people of the good deed you have done? If this is the case then you are being motivated by pride. Pride will only motivate us to do those things which improve our standing, how we feel about ourselves, and how others view us. Pride makes us think that some things are beneath us, that we are too high up or important to do some of the more menial, day to day things that need done. Do you think that you should not have tidy up in the church because you are the CEO of some big company? Do you feel that you should go and feed the homeless in the church outreach program because it will reflect well on you in that job interview? This is pride, and God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13)! God will resist those motivated by pride (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5) and any good deed done with this motive in your heart will be counted as sin.

Lust: Are you doing good deeds for someone that you are attracted to hoping that they may begin to look on you with affection? Are you bringing your wife flowers, doing all the house work, and pampering her in order to get her to consent to your amorous advances in bed that night? Well, you are being motivated by lust then. You should be doing everything you can for your wife because you love her and she is a blessing form God in your life. To even think of another in lust is a adultery according to Christ (Matthew 5:28).

Right Motivations

The following are the right motivations to have in our heart for doing things, again this is not an exhaustive list but it is a few examples to get you thinking about this topic.

Compassion: We are to be moved by compassion to give to others, to pray for them, and do all we can to meet their needs. When we look at the world we should be grieved by all the lack and need we see. Jesus Himself did many things because He was moved by compassion. He sent out the twelve to ministry because He had compassion (Matthew 9:35 - 38); He fed the 5000 because He was moved with compassion (Matthew 14:14 - 21) and the 4000 (Matthew 15:32 - 38); He told the story of the a King who forgave a man a debt of 10,000 talents because he was moved by compassion (Matthew 18:23 - 35); He healed the 2 blind men because He had compassion towards them (Matthew 20:34); He healed the Leper (Mark 1:41); He raised a person from the dead having been moved by compassion for the mother’s grief (Luke 7:11 - 15). Jesus had compassion towards all who were suffering and He still does. We are to extend this compassion of Christ to those who are suffering, feeding the hungry, forgiving those who sin against us, bring His healing to all who need it, comfort those who mourn and raise the dead. He had enough compassion for me to die on the cross so that all my needs would be met, so I should extend this same compassion to those around me who are in need.

Faith: We should be motivated by our faith that what we do is what God wants us to do. We should be certain in our hearts that we have heard from God for ourselves before we step out in faith. Everything we do should be based on our faith that the Lord our God has call us to do it. Do not move out in to a ministry because someone else told you that that is what God wants you to do, seek the Lord first and be certain in your own heart before stepping out. Paul tells us in Romans 14:23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin. So, if our faith is not at the foundation of what we do then whatever we do is sin, if we step out in a ministry with doubt (having listen to the voices of others rather than God) then we have stepped out in sin! Therefore make sure of what you are going to do and do it in faith that it is what God wants you to do rather than what man wants you to do.

Love: This is a motivation that should always be in our hearts. We should do things because we love God and our fellow man. If we truly love Christ we will do all that He asks us to do without questioning, analysing, doubting, hesitating, or fearing (John 14:23). If we love Him we will be obedient to Him and we will make ourselves subject to His every commandment, and we will do all that we can for our fellow man because of the love we have for them.

So to sum up, we must check our hearts before we do anything to ensure that we are doing it for the right reasons. We have look at all we are and do to ensure that it sound founded on the word of the Lord and all our motivations are acceptable in His eyes. Where we find wrong motivations or foundations not supported by the word of God we must repent of them and correct them to come back in line with His will.

I urge you to be open to the prompting of the holy Spirit in all of this, be willing to see those things done with motives that were less than pure that you might repent and be purified in the eyes of the Lord. Listen to the voice of God and do what you have faith to do, do not step out in doubt but wait on the Lord so that you may have a pure and certain faith in all that you do. Cultivate the love of God in your heart that you may extend it to all those who need it and have compassion for all who are suffering. Reject pride, greed and lust for they are all from the enemy who would seek to destroy all the works of God if he could.

I pray that these word I have written would be used by the Lord to speak in to your life and that you would respond to the prompting's of the Holy Spirit in all of this. May the Lord keep you and bless you, may He continually speak to you and guide you, may you be a shining testimony to His love, grace, mercy and compassion. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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