139 Meaning Influences Motives

Meaning: “conveying a significance that is not directly expressed . . .”

Personal Finding #1: Meaning influences motives.

To begin with, let’s look at how meaning influences motives.

Definition: Motive – a “reason for doing something or behaving in a specific way (Encarta).”

All people are affected for better or worse by their own or by others’ understanding, or lack of understanding, of meaning and how it influences motives. Individuals commonly embrace a highly diverse set of meanings all without knowing they do so. Then, unconsciously, they allow these meanings to influence their reasons for thinking and doing whatever they do.

But to the average onlooker, the attitudes, behaviors and preferences of any individual provide clear, demonstrable evidence of whatever means most and least to that individual. In fact, take me for example. Whether I consciously grasp that God is of #1 importance to me is not necessary for Him to be, and for me to be powerfully motivated by Him. Makes sense, right? And all of us operate unconsciously most of the time anyway. But be sure, all-the-better if we operate consciously. Deliberate, conscious thinking and choice is God’s highest standard of thinking and it is to this standard to which I am, to which we all are called.

In particular, God wants His thinking to be our thinking. In fact, God wants us saturated in His Word—full up with His thinking and ways, to the point that when squeezed (by life pressures) what comes out is the essence of His thoughts on everything.

Why? Because His thoughts are important and superior to our thoughts. My limited little mind bows to this truth every time.

Special Note: Sweet Spirit understands the compelling nature of the word “important.” It is a significant word (that separates the men from the boys, so to speak) for her, and because of her drawing my attention to it, I now recognize how often I use it and how it resonates with me too. To me, that word puts any matter under consideration in a special category all its own—the important category (In any major sort-out, I frequently can be overheard muttering, “That’s important! It’s a keeper!” Or the converse, “That’s unimportant. Out with it!).” Count on it, if some matter I am exploring falls into the important category, it will survive any and every cut session 100% of the time and will figure largely in who I am when, if ever, anyone encounters me.

To continue with me as an example, since I am a conscious believer, and since God is of #1 importance to me in the box of life and is a major keeper in my sort-out; one can reliably predict that one will find me seeing everything-but-everything in life as an adjunct to my priority confession. Further, one will find me daily, as called by God, deliberately pursuing God’s model of thinking and choice and thoroughly enthusiastic about it (Not because I should be excited by it, but because I find it important!).

Of course, if you have read much of what I wrote on Significant Truth #1: God (Blogs #11-110) then you would already know that God values exquisitely conscious being and doing and wants His “chilluns” both aware of our own personal motives and those of others, and to routinely and carefully evaluate the quality of those motives along with how they rightly or wrongly influence us.

Specifically, God expects us to recognize and understand how we and others derive meaning, and how we allow that meaning to influence our motives—our reasons for doing what we do in life.

To God, a conscious relationship with Him is the ultimate meaning in life and one that rightly should influence us and create the right motivation in us.

To God, no other meaning in life can or should ever be allowed to be the prime motivator in life or to supersede, much less replace, this ultimate meaning in life.

To God, right meaning, right influence and right motivation all start in right relationship with Him and proceed from there.This right relationship then promotes a cascade of all else into right context for right living. God wants us to know that when His meanings are allowed to influence our motives, we’re right- on in life. Things sort-out rightly. Now, as you can imagine, that’s important to me.

Dwell on that a bit.

To be continued . . .