J.P. Morgan once said, ”A man always has two reasons for doing anything, a good reason and the real reason.”

We recall the parable that Jesus told about those who had been invited to a great supper. He said that, ”they all with one consent began to make excuse.” The excuse that they gave was, they thought, the ”good reason” but not the ”real reason.” We have all been guilty of giving the ”good reason” when it was not the ”real reason.”

Picture this scene. The father wants his teen-age son to attend the Sunday evening Bible lecture but the son begins to give his father all the reasons he cannot go. He has some homework that simply must be done, he has to get up extra early for a special project at school, and, besides all that, he has a headache. The father then just happens to mention that Suzy Belle Whatshername has just arrived in town to visit her aunt and she will be there.

Suddenly, the young boy’s eyes light up and he begins to think of a number of good reasons why he really should go to the lecture. The subject is one that particularly appeals to him, it really is important to support the ecclesia’s preaching efforts, etc.

None of the boy’s reasons for not going or going were the real reasons. We usually do what we want to do and do not do what we don’t. He did not want to attend until he learned that Suzy Belle was going to be there and then suddenly he had a burning desire to go.

Just how many things do we do that we do not like to do? Just how many things do we not do that we really want to do, but we refrain, because of our love for our Lord?

If we only please ourselves, are we pleasing the Lord? Paul told us that, ”even Christ pleased not himself.” We will never get into the kingdom just going around pleasing ourselves.

For this reason, Paul exhorted us that we ought to ”bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”

It might be a very interesting exercise to keep a log of the things we do that we really don’t want to do, but we do them to help ”bear the infirmities of the weak” and also a log of the things we really did want to do but refrained from doing because it might offend one of these little ones.

Keep this log faithfully for a week or two and see how many items we record. If there are few to none at the end of our trial period, does this tell us something?

Some people only think of themselves. They are only concerned with their own personal likes and dislikes, their own comforts and pleasures. These people are not really happy, but they sure do spend a lot of time working at it.

True happiness, even in life, comes from forgetting ourselves and becoming wholly and totally engrossed in service to others.

Paul’s advice to us is, ”Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.” His wish for us was that the ”God of patience and consolation would grant us to be like minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: that we may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”