Why do you do what you do? 

That’s a motivation question. Sometimes the answer is obvious: I ate an orange because I was hungry. But other times it isn’t: I dominated a conversation with a friend and barely let him get a word in . . . why? 

The Bible and the Heart

The Bible always addresses our motivations because it always addresses our heart—and that’s where motives originate. Just look at some of what Scripture says about the heart:

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23, ESV).

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person (Mark 7:21–23, ESV).

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks (Luke 6:45, ESV).

In all these passages, the heart is the source of every human action—whether it’s internal (thoughts, desires) or external (words, actions). As the biblical counselor David Powlison used to say, the heart is at the center of “what makes us tick.” 

The Ever-Moving Heart

Why is this important? Most of us only think of “motive” when a crime is mentioned or when a hurtful word slips out. But the Bible is clear that motive is always engaged. Our heart is always beating for something or someone. Powlison described our hearts as active verbs:

The human heart—the answer to why we do what we do—must be understood as an active-verb-with-respect-to-God. Climb inside any emotional reaction, any behavioral choice or habit, any cognitive content, any reaction pattern to suffering, and you are meant to hear and see active verbs working out. Love God or anything else. Fear God or anything else. Want God or anything else. Need God or anything else. Hope in God or anything else. Take refuge in God or anything else. Obey God or anything else. Trust God or anything else. Seek God or anything else. Serve God or anything else. The Bible’s motivation theory shouts from every page.¹ 

At every second of the day, our hearts are active: loving, fearing, wanting, needing, hoping, hiding, obeying, trusting. There is no such thing as a dead heart—hard hearts, yes, but not dead ones. Hearts are always moving.

Questioning the Heart

How does this help us? Many of us are familiar with the psalmist asking the introspective question, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” (Psalm 42:5, ESV). That’s a great question. It lifts up our eyes to our true hope in God. But we could also ask, “Why are you so bothered, oh my heart, and what are you seeking?” If we’re candid in our response, the Spirit of God will show us where our heart is running afoul. We will see what, in that moment, our heart is loving, fearing, wanting, needing, hoping in, hiding from, obeying, or trusting.

Return to my example of dominating a conversation with a friend. When I asked the Spirit what my heart was seeking, the answer was clear: self-justification. I wanted my friend to know how unjustly I was being treated and why things should be going differently for me. But the result was not self-justification. It was alienation. I made myself primary and my friendship secondary, which led to guilt and remorse. Instead of blessing another through conversation, I sapped his joy and shut down his sharing.

I

keep thinking of what that conversation would have been like if I had paused amidst my inner turmoil and asked, “Why are you so bothered, oh my heart, and what are you seeking?” In Psalm 42, the response given to the psalmist is given to us, too: “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (42:5–6).

Hope is what the heart needs most—not a generic hope that “things will get better,” but a personal hope in the living God who is present to heal and restore us. When it came to my desire for self-justification, I needed hope in God working all things together for the good of my salvation. I needed hope that God’s goodness is and will be so overwhelming that I will find joy in the simple truth that “I shall again praise him.” Hope tethered to praise: that is what the heart longs for.

Divinely-Motivated

Why do we do what we do? The answer is always because our hearts are chasing something. Our hearts are active verbs. As we rely on the Spirit to show us what we are chasing, we will become more aware of the idols and specters of happiness that we think will settle our hearts. Only God will do that, because only God is worth our hope. 

May the motives of our heart stretch toward God by grace so that we grow into divinely-motivated worshipers.

Notes:

1. David Powlison, The Biblical Counseling Movement, 289.

Author Bio:

Pierce Taylor Hibbs is Senior Writer and Communication Specialist at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Struck Down but Not Destroyed, The Book of Giving, One with God, and Our Hope Is in Help. He and his wife, Christina, live in Pennsylvania with their three kids, Isaac, Nora, and Heidi. Learn more about his work at piercetaylorhibbs.com.

Additional Resources for Examining Heart Motivations:

Is God Enough for Me? | Contentment Bible Study		Clinging to the Cross		Draw Near to God		Why You Do What You Do: How to Identify Idols | Blog
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