No, I'm not going to talk about cops and robbers or the courts. Just read the statement as written:

Motive Means Opportunity.

Keep this statement in the back of your mind, and read on.

Statistics show that the average work-week is approaching seven days. . . the average work-day is between ten and twelve hours. . . overtime pay is nearly half of the before-tax paycheck. . . the average night's sleep is lass than six hours. . . time spent with the spouse and children in the home is just above three hours, and shrinking, with over two-thirds of this time spent watching television. . and the statistics show that these trends are only going to continue.

Yet these same statistics show that even with such hectic schedules, people spend HOURS bending their elbows in bars, screaming their heads off in sports arenas, standing like cattle in lottery-ticket lines, wandering around chasing little white balls with dimples, sweating and grunting while they push and pull against machines that look like they belong in a torture chamber, sneaking into motel rooms with people they are not married to... and the list goes on and on.

This observation brings me back to my subject:

Motive Means Opportunity.

In other words: People do what they WANT to do. They do ANY and EVERYTHING they REALLY WANT to do.

I admit that people will CLAIM that they don't get to do EVERYTHING they want to. . . they will say, "Why I HAVE to go to work, and I CERTAINLY can't do what I want to and be somewhere else!" But they REALLY MEAN that they want the MONEY their job PAYS them so they will be able to BUY the alcohol, or the lottery tickets, or the stadium tickets, or pay the SMUT Channel cable bill, or whatever. If people didn't NEED money to BUY what they WANT, they wouldn't HAVE JOBS! You don't believe me? Let me take you to ANY major city, and show you the way drug addicts live. . . they don't have JOBS, but they can sure get the money they NEED to BUY the drugs they WANT. How, you ask? They STEAL it! They MUG someone for the money, or they BREAK IN to a home and TAKE whatever they can SELL for the money, or they even start DEALING the drugs themselves, SELLING to other addicts to make the money they NEED to BUY their own drugs!

If you don't believe my statements about drug addicts, what about the very statistics I started this article with? Why else is there such an increase in the amount of overtime being worked? To pay the bills, you say? Does ALL of your paycheck cover your obligations - with nothing left? Is your TITHE deducted, then your TAXES [NOTICE THE ORDER OF THESE OBLIGATIONS!], then your rent or mortgage, then your car payment (or payments), then your utility bills, then your grocery bill, then a balance of zero? Be honest. . . isn't there an "entertainment" category in your budget, with probably as big or bigger a percentage than the "Children's College Fund?" Why, even the savings for the children's education is something you WANT to do. . . there is no Federal Law dictating a percentage of earnings for College Tuition - YET!

Now, don't get my meaning confused here... I'm not saying that working for the future, be it investing in a home or transportation or even a child's education is WRONG, not at all! But I hope I've made my point that we DO what we WANT to do, PARTICULARLY where our JOB is concerned!

And a second look at the time statistics just reinforces my point: people MAKE TIME to do the things they WANT to. A man may not have time to spend with his family, but he can make time for the trip to the big game at the dome. A woman may not have time for her children, but she can make time for the trip to the beauty salon. People can always find time to do what they REALLY WANT to. In other words, their desire (MOTIVE) causes them (MEANS) to make the time available (OPPORTUNITY).

But this idea of MOTIVE MEANS OPPORTUNITY deals with ANY WAY we spend our time or effort or money. . . physically or SPIRITUALLY.

And, as always, let's look at what the Bible has to say about it.

First, let's start with a widely held opinion: The Old Testament dealt only with the outward actions, the New Testament deals with the inward desires.

For example, look at what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew chapters 5 to 7. The Old Testament said "DO NO MURDER" [literally], but Jesus said that hatred was just as much a sin. The Old Testament said "DO NO ADULTERY" [again, literally], but Jesus said that looking at a woman with "lust" [that is, WANTING TO!] was just as sinful as if you actually had sexual relations with her. Jesus meant that for BOTH genders, since it takes both a man and a woman to commit adultery (see Mark 10:10-12!) So, Jesus "fulfilled" the Old Testament Law by SHOWING that it applied to the THOUGHTS AND DESIRES WITHIN, not just the actions carried out (see Matthew 5:17!). Doesn't this show that the old "opinion" to be wrong? Doesn't one of the commandments say "DO NO COVETING?" Is "coveting" an ACTION or an INTERNAL DESIRE? Before answering that, consider what the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7:7, "I wouldn't have known what coveting was if I hadn't read 'Don't Covet.'" [to paraphrase]. Does this mean that the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Old Testament Law CAUSED people to sin? OF COURSE NOT! That question is answered far better by Paul in Romans and Galatians than I ever could, but I'll just say this: the 55 mph speed limit doesn't make people get speeding tickets; it's EXCEEDING the limit that does it! Disobedience is the CAUSE of sin! The Jews should have KNOWN that if an ACTION was sin, then the thoughts BEHIND that action were sinful also! If you have any common since, let alone the smallest bit of medical knowledge, you know that the brain controls the body. . . that the THOUGHTS control the ACTIONS. That's what REPENTANCE is all about, folks! If you change your desires from what YOU WANT to what GOD WANTS, then you have TRUE REPENTANCE! The ACTIONS people will see will be caused by WANTING TO DO what you know God WANTS YOU TO DO!

Now that we know God has been trying to get our THOUGHTS back in line with His Will since the disobedience of Adam and Eve, let's explore what He has to say about it. Jesus told us that our "heart" would be focused on the thing we WANT the most, the thing we "treasure" above everything else (Matthew 6:21). Jesus even shows us that the Old Testament stressed the inner desires because He told us that the whole Old Testament writing can be summed up by the "Golden Rule": what you WANT, you have to GIVE to others. We are supposed to LOVE others, and we know that love is KIND, GENTLE, PATIENT, SUPPORTIVE, and REJOICES IN THE TRUTH (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). LOVE is not an ACTION, but an inner state of MIND - a series of THOUGHTS and DESIRES.

We DO what we WANT to. If we are gathered around the Lord's Table on each and every Lord's Day morning, it's because we WANT to be. If we are absent, it's because we WANT to be. If we give our tithe of 10% of our BEFORE-TAX income, it's because we WANT to. If we don't give God a single red cent, it's because we WANT to cheat Him. If we obey God's Will, it's because we WANT to. If we commit sin, it's because we WANT to. Look at James 1:13-15! Sin is caused by the DESIRE to commit it! Adultery doesn't happen by ACCIDENT! Alcoholism isn't caused by CHANCE! Money isn't stolen by having it fall out of the sky and land in your back pocket! AND DISOBEDIENCE ISN'T AN ACCIDENT EITHER! If you don't DO what God WANTS, it's because you don't WANT TO! You make a deliberate decision to disobey! Re-read the very first account of DISOBEDIENCE in the third chapter of Genesis. . . Adam and Eve did what they WANTED to! That's why SIN is punishable by DEATH! If you don't WANT the life God would like you to have, WHY SHOULD HE GIVE IT TO YOU?

Remember, God GAVE His Son Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins because He WANTED TO! And Jesus went to the cross because He WANTED TO!

If you don't BELIEVE in Jesus as God's Son, if you don't ACCEPT His Will as being the only truth, if you don't REPENT of your wicked desires, if you don't CONFESS Jesus as Lord and Ruler of your mind and body and soul, if you don't have yourself IMMERSED for the forgiveness of your sins and to receive the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence, and if you don't REMAIN FAITHFUL by OBSERVING ALL that God has written in His Word. . . Then you don't WANT eternal life. And what you DON'T WANT you WON'T GET.