Mar. 30: Internal/Eternal Rewards

What motivates you? What fuels your “want to”? I’ve been thinking lately, as we head into this Easter season, “Why did Jesus do it—the whole passion, crucifixion, suffering, torture, humiliation, execution—what motivated that? What was His reward? What was the pay-off?

In our culture most things seems to be driven by external and temporary motivations; everything from buying a new car to school children’s academic pursuits. The local car dealer offers “irresistible” credit incentives; the parent “bribes” children into good behavior with the promise of some delicious treat; the teacher “rewards” students with candy or some prize.

I’m not totally against those things; cars need to be sold, children need to behave and students need to learn. The Good Lord knows I’ve done my share of good deeds simply because of the carrot dangling before me. Ah, there’s the rub. Extrinsic motivators—those external, temporary lures—by definition “do not belong to the thing to which they are connected.”

Intrinsic motivators, on the other hand, are internal and lasting, a part of a person’s true nature. What kind of response do you get when you remove the rewards? A church we once served had a well-attended children’s program which offered clubbers prizes for memorizing Bible verses. A worthy goal, to be sure, but it was disappointing to see a kid “cram” for the recitation, receive the prize, and 10 minutes later have no recollection of the Bible verse, let alone its meaning.

Intrinsic rewards reveal (and instill) intrinsic values—the action is performed simply because it is the right or noble thing to do; the lesson is learned because the knowledge or experience in and of itself is the prize. So it is with this Christ-following life; it is lived not in pursuit of some tangible, external, temporary trinket, but because the relationship with our Creator/Savior and the adventure of living life with Him, and for Him, is itself the prize!

Jesus advised not to be caught up in the pursuing and keeping of material things: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

Some would say heaven is the ultimate extrinsic reward. Okay, but is that why a person comes to Christ, just to get into heaven when they die? What about this life? What if the promise of heaven weren’t part of the equation, would you still follow Jesus?

There’s a song written several decades ago which raises and answers this question:
You may ask me, “why do you serve the Lord, it is just for heaven’s gain?
Or to walk those streets of gold and to hear the angels sing?
Is it just to drink from the fountain that never shall run dry?
or to live forever, ever and ever in that sweet ol’ by and by?”
But if heaven never were promised to me,
Neither God’s promise to live eternally,
It’s been worth just having the Lord in my life;
I was living in world of darkness, but He brought me the light.

So what’s your motivation? “Have this mind in you that was in Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8)

Why did He do it? He valued obedience to the Father more than His own physical comfort; He valued our freedom more than His own life. Because God loved the world so much… the relationship is the reward.

~ Father, build a genuine “want to” into my heart. Help me pursue the right things for the right reasons. Guide and guard my steps and purify my motives. Amen.