6 For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.
7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.
8 For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.
9 And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.
10 Wherefore, a man being evil cannot do that which is good; neither will he give a good gift.
Which seems to be the point of the lesson Sunday - that doing something right for the wrong reasons counts even more than not doing it.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught “We must not only do what is right. We must act for the right reasons. The modern term is good motive. The scriptures often signify this appropriate mental attitude with the words full purpose of heart or real intent.
“The scriptures make clear that God understands our motives and will judge our actions accordingly. If we do not act for the right reasons, our acts will not be counted for righteousness.”
Somehow finding this scripture makes me feel a little bit less sneaky. "God understands our motives" - he knows our real intent, but he also understands how incredibly weak and wimpy creatures we are also.
I feel better about doing some things perhaps not for the best reason, but doing them in the hope that I will eventually begin doing it for the right reason.
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