"Sarge"
Director NCFP
5 posts
Mar 05, 2008
2:31 PM
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Imagine, if you would, a man sitting in a beautiful park in Minneapolis eating his lunch which he bought at McDonald’s. He finishes his fish fillet sandwich and hot fries and is about to throw the sandwich wrapper and small fries bag on the ground, even though a trash receptacle is nearby. Then the man notices a sign near the trash receptacle which reads, “Warning: $200 fine for littering.” The man thinks twice about discarding his trash on the ground and makes the effort to walk to the trash container. That is called external motivation. The warning sign, with its stiff penalty, sufficiently motivated the man to do the right thing and deposit his trash in the receptacle. A purer, more altruistic motivation would have been for the man to have said to himself, “If I litter I will make the park less beautiful for those who will come after me.” The internal motivation with its concern for the preciousness of others is a higher, better motivation. The man should be motivated internally to do the right thing. He shouldn’t require the threat of the warning sign. Both work, but internal is better. The same is true for us. We shouldn’t require the external motivation of threats to do the right thing. We should desire to do the right thing because of internal motivations. So what does all this have to do with the purity ministry? Why live in sexual purity? Because if you don’t you might get caught by your spouse? Because if you don’t you could lose your job? Because if you don’t you could get a sexually-transmitted disease? Because if you don’t you’ll be embarrassed to face the men in your purity platoon? All of these are “warning signs in the park.” All of these are designed to externally motivate us to live in purity. Internal motivation for living in sexual purity is purer, higher, better. With internal motivation we live in purity because we want to please the heart of God and glorify Jesus Christ. We want to hear his commendation, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” The Apostle John writes, “. . . we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him." (1 John 3:21,22) (emphasis mine). We live to please Him. That’s internal motivation. Why live in sexual purity? To please Christ. When it comes to year-end giving, many are solely motivated to give because of the tax benefits. That’s good but it’s not the highest motivation. A higher, purer motivation is to give because you believe in the transcendent cause of purifying the Bride of Christ, the Church, in preparation for Jesus Christ’s return. That’s internal motivation. God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). The day many come when tax benefits for charitable giving will be eliminated. Will you and I still be motivated to give?
Last Edited on 7-Mar-2008 6:02 PM
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