Integrity
4 For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. 5 Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! 6 As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.
1 Thessalonians 2:4-6 NLT
Yesterday I just looked at 1 Thessalonians 2:4, but wanted to include verses 5 and 6 today.
God knows our motives perfectly, and we know our own motives pretty well; but it can be very difficult to know the motives of other people. Matthew 7:15-16a NLT warns us to “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act."
There are many people in this world that disguise their true motives, in order to deceive people for money and fame. The Apostle Paul makes it clear that he was not interested in either. In the same way we need to be careful about motives when promoting things for profit. Often when money is involved it can cloud our judgement. There were many examples of this in the crypto currency industry this past year, causing many people to lose a lot of money; and many others to lose a lot of credibility.
Don't risk your integrity for money.