Article August 27, 1949 Issue

WHAT ARE OUR MOTIVES?

MARJORY POULTER

Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, lays great stress on the value of right motives. So vital did she consider this subject that she has given us a By-Law in the Manual of The Mother Church entitled "A Rule for Motives and Acts" (Art. VIII, Sect. 1). A motive determines action. In her writings Mrs. Eddy makes clear how necessary it is to examine our motives and see if they are to prove in our daily experience the ever-presence of God's harmonious government, blessing each and all, or if they are to gain personal aggrandizement and mere human success.

In the well-known story of David and Goliath, which is given in the seventeenth chapter of I Samuel, diametrically opposite motives and their unmistakable results are vividly brought out. Goliath, arrogant and boastful, motivated by pride, personal power, and prestige, defied the armies of Israel and boasted his human ability to overcome anyone who might be sent against him.

David, on the other hand, humble in his pure and high motive of glorifying God and proving His power to deliver, said to Goliath: "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts.... And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands." The result was a glorious victory, and the Israelites were delivered from an enemy.

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