Why??

“There are two great days in a person’s life; the day we are born and the day we discover why.” ~William Barclay

Recently, I have had the pleasure of being around kids. I have never regarded myself as a “kid person” or one that works well with kids, but lately I have found something out. First, you must get down to their eye level, then you must ask as many questions as possible about them. The world will then open up and Beautiful smiles will glow. In my recent discovery I have found that there is a stage kids go through where they cannot stop asking “why?” This may seem annoying to those of us who know, but for them it is a simple one-word question to tap into the world of the unknown.

The story is told of a wealthy man who approaches the great teacher. He says, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit the Kingdom of God?” Have you ever wondered about Jesus’ reply? He did not address the question asked, rather he goes straight to the core. He says, “Why is it that you call me good?” Jesus realized something that the man did not. Jesus knows the heart. Jesus knows why! Jesus finally answers the man’s question, however the wealthy man is dissatisfied. He says, I have done all those things even from my youth. Jesus replies, “Go and sell all that you own and come follow me”. This was the answer to his question. Why then did he walk away? It was apparent to Jesus that the man approached the Heavenly Gates with a selfish motive. This is implied in his greeting, “Good Teacher”. He was not interested in selling all HIS possessions, but he was looking to add another, Eternal Life. This example shows why “why” matters.

There is an ongoing Theological debate (Stay with me now). Are we sinners because we sin, or do we sin because we are sinners (the nuance is slight, but take a second and soak in the ramifications for both ideas).

1)                   Essentially, the first listed above takes the position of Sin as an action. We are perfectly capable of not sinning. There is nothing in our makeup or history that causes a predisposition to sin.

2)                   Now the second accepts sin as a condition, a state of being if you will. We were born with the inclination to sin. Our very makeup and operating abilities have been tainted.

Now before you pick either side and deem the other to complete stupidity, think about them carefully. Each can be supported Biblically and neither is explicitly mentioned as better than the other. However, it appears that they are indeed in contrast, thus the debate right? Wrong! Both are dealing with the issue of WHY we sin? However, I would attest that they are searching for answers of “why” that cannot be given, and do not need to be.

           

            NOTE:At this point, it is important to note that I am not speaking about all the questions why? There are some questions we are not supposed to know the answers to. I am more or less talking about questioning ourselves. Questioning our motivations as to why we act a certain way and not just             letting the actions stand-alone. (Essentially the Mistake of the Rich Young Ruler)

Both arguments are dealing with why we sin? I do not think this is the main issue. We all sin. That is the reality of the matter. We all have sinned, sin, and will sin. Whether I sin because I am predisposed to do so or because I make the choice is rather irrelevant seeing as how one time or another I have signed. We know the Bible teaches that all sin is punishable only by death. Asking whether we sin because of predisposition or because of choice is ignoring the inevitable, either way, we've sinned and we deserve death.

We are not dealing with an argument of condition or an argument of action, we are dealing with Ownership. I will not dwell on this point for it is for another blog but I can’t resist, who do you belong to?

THE BOTTOMLINE: We need to evaluate our motives no matter how noble the action, because if our hearts are in the wrong place, our action is tainted.

It was apparent in the above example of the rich young ruler; a man who had a selfish motive and also selfish action.

It gets much more complicated with a wrong motivation followed by a “right” action. The only determining factor in said situation is the self-reflective question “why”. I cannot answer why you did something, for I am not you. Conversely, you cannot answer why I do what I do for you are not me. This is why we must take responsibility for our own actions. We must reflect upon ourselves and most importantly, be honest with ourselves.

For example, lets say that you log onto Facebook and you find a page that has been uploaded to help raise money for a girl who has been diagnosed with cancer. This would be a worthy cause? Anyone who posted this is participating in a good cause? However, what if you were to find out that it was all a hoax and she did it for the money?

Right Action, Wrong Motivation. Actually, can there be right action with wrong motivation?

This is why “why” matters…  Jesus says you shall know a tree by its fruits… We often use this as an excuse to look at other’s fruit and try to determine who they are. We don’t often evaluate our own fruit and measure whether it correctly reflects who we are. In Jeremiah, it says our hearts our deceitful. Whereas Jesus said, you may know a tree by its fruits our hearts have hindered our ability to see that connection.

What is your motivation? Why do you do the things that you do?