Proverbs 16:2

All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

Another way to say this in modern terms might be; don’t fool yourselves, God knows.

Many act as if we couldn’t get through the day without at least one good rationalization.

Let us be honest with ourselves, most of our choices in life are determined by what we care about at the moment. People in relationships tend to measure the wants of their partner in making decisions. 

1 Peter 4:8

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

The wrong kind of love can lead to unhealthy choices for both. Eros love is not one born of the heart but rather desires of the flesh. Philia love is measured and waivers as the scales are tipped by selfishness. Ludus love is playful, flirtatious, and holds no sway in making serious decisions. Agape love is perfect love that only God can perform perfectly.

Agape love can only work through us if it abides in us and is the sole basis of our choices.

God honors choices where the motivations of the heart are based on His indwelling love.

John 14:24
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

John 21:15
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

John 15:10
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

1 Corinthians 13:13
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 John 2:10
Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

When we love Jesus with His abiding love, we love what He loves. That is motivation.

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 21:25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

This first verse indicates that the Holy Spirit will bring to memory of all that Jesus said. That comment was said to His disciples, not us.

In the second verse we hear that not everything that Jesus said and did is written down. We do not have a written record to fill in the missing details. The Holy Spirit knows. Will He share with us things not written in His Word?

Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Everything we need is written in the Word.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Holy Spirit wields the sword to separate fleshly thoughts from the intentions of our hearts that belong to Jesus. In doing so He sheds light on lies and causes us to choose right things, right paths and in doing so changes our lives in ways we cannot do for ourselves.

Since God is One and in perfect harmony, the Holy spirit will not do anything for us or in us that is not the will of the Father. He gives us the desires of our hearts by first changing our heart’s desire.

Given that this is true, do we really need so many volumes of books that we do not have the time to read in the time we have left here on earth?

Ecclesiastes 1:13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

God wants us to be happy. Seeking that which is not revealed by the Holy Spirit is an unhappy business.