Joyce Meyer: God values the heart, true motive behind your actions ahead of 'religious works'

Evangelical leader and New York Times' best-selling author Joyce Meyer says God is more interested in the right motives behind one's action and in treating other people right than one's religious works.

"God is much more concerned about why we do what we do than what we do," said Meyer as a guest speaker for Sunday service at Pastor Craig Groeschel's megachurch, LifeChurch.

"I don't want you to just do religious works trying to impress me, I want you to get the sin out of your life and learn how to treat other people right," is what God is trying to tell His people in Bible verse Isaiah 58, according to Meyer.

Meyer drew references on today's "image-driven age" where people are more "concerned with their image than their character." She said it's better to be filled with the spirit of Christ and let it shape one's image than be seen with bumper stickers of Jesus' name on their cars.

She emphasized how important it was to always check one's motive and to be "pure in heart" which means "those who do what they do with pure motives." Meyer also shared how she herself would ask the question, "Why am I doing this?"

The preacher, who celebrated in March her 40th year of teaching the Bible, recalled how she realized one day that Isaiah 58 was a message for her. She revealed how she used to be one of those people occupied doing religious things and yet she was also fighting and arguing with her husband. She then stressed that some people could be so busy doing "God-things" and yet have no time to be with God.

Meyer also preached about doing personal inventories of how one has been a blessing to others by asking questions such as "Who did I help today?" and "Who did I bless this week?"