Motivated to honor God in everything

Peter’s company is thriving, godly, and ethical. His board members often disagree on some issues, and consequently have heated discussions. They have no-holds-barred debates, but hurt feelings are rare, and seldom do their deliberations result in ties or stalemates. How can this be in a fallen world?

Trust is the answer. The board members trust that each has become governed by one motivation: to honor God in everything. Notice I said “has become.” Becoming is different than behaving. Trust results from a transformed heart, not from external rote comportment.

Writing about ethics can easily evolve into an external list of “do’s and don’ts.” We like lists. We try to give them power of their own.

The Pharisees were such folks—perceived as the most ethical group in all Israel. They’d ordered their lives superficially to carry out the 613 commandments they found in the Torah. Over time, their efforts became increasingly external and perfunctory, ignoring internal motivations. They became masters in whitewashing the outside of tombs and ignoring the rotting flesh inside. By focusing on their self-discipline, peer approval, and hope of earning Yahweh’s acceptance, the Pharisees became the antithesis of their objective—God’s enemies rather than godly priests—and entirely untrustworthy.

When trust flows from the hearts of men and women who have become transformed to honor God in everything, God’s Word becomes enticing, God’s people become more attractive even in their imperfections, and the Holy Spirit speaks to our previously godless consciences. What we once did with impunity, we now cannot do—the Word moves us toward godliness.

We can ignore these constructive messages to our shame and detriment. Hardened hearts and deliberate sin dull the warnings, but we can never shut them off completely. Christ will never cease wooing us from sinful behavior, until He takes us home. One sure sign of a genuine Christian is a godly response to the Word.

Peter’s board is constructed of just such people—not perfected but sensitive to the messages of God’s Spirit through the Word. Trust is the inevitable result, and out of that trust flows a stream of godly ethical decisions that transform customers, associates, employees, suppliers, and the community that surrounds them.

There’s a world of difference between two individuals with identical behaviors, one motivated by self-discipline alone and the other who does so to honor God. Inevitably, the former cannot help but be proud of his accomplishment, and that pride oozes out in uncontrollable cracks in his character. The latter has a fragrance that is enticing, attractive, and winsome. One seeks to seem good and the other is good. One has a personal agenda, the other has surrendered all rights to such a self-serving plan.

The application here is both personal and corporate. Have we become transformed, or are we working at this through our own power or discipline? What about our company? Our elders? Our deacons? Our churches?

May we pray for God to transform us all to become motivated to honor Him in everything.