The Right Because
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. … I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. … Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”
Ezekiel 36:22-32
Refuse to accept the outcome of something if it doesn't give God the most glory.
In Exodus 32:7-14, which is retold in Deuteronomy 9:13-14, God tells Moses He is going to destroy the people of Israel and renew His promise with Moses, making him a great nation. Moses refused to accept God's plan of destroying Israel, asking Him to blot his name out of God's book if He wouldn't forgive and redeem His people. The “because” that motivated Moses was serving God and giving Him the greatest glory possible. Instead of seeking to serve God while at the same time serving himself, Moses was willing to sacrifice himself to give God glory. We can’t serve God and serve ourselves while we are at it, we have to abandon the pursuits of serving ourselves and pursue giving God maximum glory as the motivating “because” of our lives. Refuse to accept anything less than God's greatest glory.
Is your because the right because?
A parent might tell their children, “Don’t do that because we don’t have enough money to buy a new one if you break it.” But even if the parents have more than enough money to buy many new ones, the children still shouldn’t do that because it’s not being responsible with what they have. God tells us not to sin and then tells us about the consequences if we do sin. Sin is bad for us even before and without the consequences. The consequences of sin can be a starting point for learning not to sun, just like a schoolmaster teaches us how to learn. We cannot remain in the schoolroom forever, we must use that education to learn how to learn for ourselves. Avoiding consequences cannot be the ultimate motivating “because” to not sin; the ultimate motivating “because” for not sinning must be living for His name’s sake.
The law never got you to heaven, it got you to the Messiah.
The law was a tutor of righteous living (c.f. Galatians 3:19-25). The law taught us how to follow God like memorizing facts help us learn the fundamentals of education. The Spirit teaches us progressively how to follow God by transforming our lives like learning how to learn prepares us for life-long learning. The law gives us the rules, and the Spirit gives us the tools as we shape our lump of clay (c.f. 2 Corinthians 4:7-10, Romans 9:21). Robert Lee Sharp eloquently writes:
“…
Each is given a list of rules;
a shapeless mass; a bag of tools.
And each must fashion, ere life is flown,
A stumbling block, or a Stepping-Stone.”
Robert Lee Sharp (1872-1951) “Princes and Kings”