Money. It’s what motivated them to have Paul and Silas brought before the authorities and imprisoned. It started me thinking about what motivates people to do the things they do.
In Acts 16:16-24 Paul is on his way to prayer with the others when a fortune teller follows them and keeps proclaiming, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved (17, NIV).” She continued to do this for many days.
“Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her (18).”
The first thing the fortune teller’s owners think about is how their source of money is now gone: “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities (19).”
They don’t consider how the woman is now free of this spirit, how Paul just worked a miracle, or the power of the living God they just witnessed. Their motivation to make money blinds them to the message of salvation professed to them and others in the city.
It’s easy to point to the wrong motivation of the fortune teller’s owners and how they could only focus on themselves. It’s harder to consider how close we might be to them. An examination of our motivations and how much Jesus influences them is a question worth considering.
Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart. Psalms 26:2, NASB
