Tag: Motivation

Glory in the Ordinary

June 12, 2024 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

They’re calling it one of the biggest Olympic snubs of all time.

An enormously popular athlete. Record-setter. Superb skills. Has altered the game forever. Draws huge crowds. Gazillion dollar endorsements. What’s not to like?

Wait a minute! You thought I was talking about WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark! No! I’m talking about ME!

I got skills. I got game. I gotta get me some Olympic bling!

You’re right. I’m delusional. But please, read on.

I thoroughly enjoy watching the Olympics. But watching these elite athletes in action always brings me back to reality. I’m once again reminded how ordinary I am. I’ll never be known for my athletic prowess, my competitive spirit, or for overcoming huge odds to beat an archrival. I’m plain old me.

The Olympics remind us that humans are capable of some amazing feats. They’re full of compelling stories. But they’re not representative of how most of us live out our day-to-day existence. Most of us are rather dull, unathletic, and uninspiring.

But that’s OK. What matters for us is that every day we dedicate ourselves to something worthwhile. For Christians, dedication to Christ is a sufficiently Olympian task. To follow the one who was first to finish the race (Hebrews 12.1-3) is challenge enough. What’s more, the crown for which you and I compete is far greater than all the medals, endorsements, and fame that our earthly Olympics could offer: “They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9.25b).

What’s left for us, then, is to do our work and do it well. “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Colossians 3.23-24).

You don’t have to be the CEO to be successful in the workplace. You don’t need to be a Hollywood couple to have a great marriage. You don’t have to be an elite athlete to find joy in sports. You don’t need a show on Food Network to enjoy cooking and eating. You don’ t need to be a millionaire to be financially secure. You don’t have to join a monastery to be faithful to Christ.

There is glory in the ordinary.

Elimination or Adaptation?

June 14, 2023 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.
Lou Holtz

That’s one possible solution. The coach may bench an unmotivated player or cut him from the team. The boss in the workplace may be able to fire an unproductive worker.

But not always.

There are three reasons for this. First, you can’t always get rid of problematic people. The lazy athlete may be more popular than the coach. The athlete may be protected by a stubborn administrator or irate parents or an ironclad contract. Or maybe nobody better is available.

Second, there may be better ways of motivating others: Being patient with them; showing them a better way; offering further training or opportunities; making the workplace more internally competitive. All these tactics might be better motivators than the threat of punishment.

Third, this approach overlooks the fact that success sometimes emerges from situations we can’t change. We may not be able to control our coworkers’ attitudes, but we can change ours. We may not be able to change the work others do, but we can improve ours. And, when all else fails, we could learn to be content with the situation. Yikes!

When the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the church in Philippi, he was in jail at the time. Some of his fellow preachers took advantage of his imprisonment. They thought that since he was in jail, they could gain a competitive advantage over Paul. With him out of the way, they could advance their own ministries.

Paul’s response? “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice” (Philippians 1.15-18).

Paul couldn’t control his circumstances or theirs. He couldn’t change their motives or actions. So, he found the good in what they did, even if their motives were corrupt.

For us, maybe we can’t change someone else’s motivation, but we can change our own. Maybe we can’t change our circumstances, but we can certainly change our attitudes. Maybe we can’t get rid of our problems, but we can choose to thrive and grow anyway.

It’s about doing whatever we can do, regardless of what others may or may not do.

Motivation & Honesty

May 3, 2023 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

As a preacher, I frequently deal in the currency of motivation. Part of what I do is attempt to keep fellow Christians and church members motivated to do the work of the kingdom.

Some Christians are highly motivated and rarely need help from me. Others are motivated only to the extent that there’s something in it for them, some tangible reward, usually in the form of trumpet-blowing. Some seem to struggle with motivation at the most basic level. They seem unable or unwilling to do the most basic forms of service. I may push, pull, beg, pressure, and howl, but nothing happens.

Regarding motivation, Oswald Chambers once wrote, “Our Lord never pleaded, He never cajoled, He never entrapped; He simply spoke the sternest words mortal ears ever listened to, and then left it alone.”

Chambers’ comments raise an interesting question: How motivated am I to do what’s right? What really moves me to serve Jesus? Do I really care? I should be careful how I answer. Because, if I must constantly be goaded, pressed, embarrassed, pushed, or shoved before I’m willing to act, it would seem that doing right isn’t my highest priority.

Too many Christians fall into this category. We say we’re followers of Jesus, but we seem awfully casual about the whole thing. We say we want to do right, that we want to serve, but we act only when we’re pushed to the limit.

This may provide some insight into Jesus’ Parable of the Sower (Luke 8.4-8). In the parable, a farmer sows seed on different kinds of soil and, consequently, gets different yields from each soil. Some of the soil is packed down and won’t grow anything. Some of it is shallow, with a layer of rock underneath. Some of it full of thorns. Some of it is good, clean soil.

When Jesus explained the parable, he said that “the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance” (Luke 8.15). The honest heart is the one who takes the Word of God and simply obeys it. There’s no resistance, no argument, and no excuse.

In other words, honesty is the linchpin of the machinery of spiritual motivation. A dishonest person will never have sufficient motivation to act upon the commands of God.

If you’re struggling with your motivation to serve God, the first thing to look at is your heart. Are you motivated for the right reasons? Bottom line: Are you honest?

The Silence of Sibelius

February 1, 2023 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) was arguably Finland’s greatest composer. Perhaps his most famous work was the patriotic symphonic poem “Finlandia”, which is one of Finland’s most important national tunes. If you’re familiar with the hymn, “Be Still My Soul,” its melody is based upon choral melody of “Finlandia.”

Sibelius was a prodigious composer, producing seven symphonies and numerous other orchestral works from the 1890s through 1926. His last known piece was “Tapiola”, written in 1926. For the remaining thirty years of his life (1926-1957), he apparently wrote or finished nothing. During this same period, he said virtually nothing about his music. Sibelius went silent.

One possible explanation is that he lost his intrinsic motivation. In 1897 he was awarded a government pension which, in theory, allowed him to work on his compositions without having to worry about his finances. He bought land in the country and with his wife Aino built a house where they lived out the remainder of their lives. The theory is that over time since he had all his extrinsic needs met, he gradually lost his inner motivation. Dangling a large carrot (in this case, a lifelong pension) in front of him eventually stunted his motivation to challenge himself.

Whether this is true or not is debatable. Sibelius lived large, frequently running up debt. He loved drinking, smoking, and partying. His tendency toward alcoholism was well known. Many believe that these were factors in his sudden silence.

Sibelius was also a perfectionist who was notoriously self-critical of his work. He often would rewrite and tweak portions of earlier works and was rarely completely satisfied with his music.

I suspect that the silence of Sibelius involved many factors. However, the notion of intrinsic motivation is important. The highest form of motivation for mature, responsible, productive people comes from within.

What does this have to do with being a Christian? Jesus said that the greatest command for God’s people is to “love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might” (Deuteronomy 6.5). This kind of commitment comes from within – from the heart, from the soul. In a culture like ours, which so strongly emphasizes external rewards, we forget that the most important things don’t have price tags attached.

What is it that really moves you? What gets you going and keeps you going? If the answer doesn’t come from your heart’s commitment to God, you’re looking in the wrong places at the wrong things.

God deserves better, and so do you.

Motivation for the Weary

December 7, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

“There is a great deal of difference between the eager man who wants to read a book, and the tired man who wants a book to read.”

(G. K. Chesterton; English writer, Christian apologist; d. 1936)

If I’m reading Chesterton correctly, he was distinguishing two types of motivation. One form of motivation comes when we’re energetic, when we have a clear schedule, and when we find something interesting. Doing what we want to do when conditions are ideal is easy.

The other form of motivation comes when we’re tired, when we don’t have a lot of time, and when we’re sorely lacking in enthusiasm. Doing what needs to be done, even if we’re not feeling it, is hard. But this is probably the highest form of motivation. We’re motivated not by external factors, but by internal forces. We’re motivated by the demands and concerns of character. We do something because it’s right, not because it’s easy.

A great illustration of this comes in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John. Jesus is traveling with his apostles near a Samaritan village. He stops at Jacob’s well for a rest while the apostles go into town to buy food (v. 27, 31-33). While he’s resting, a Samaritan woman approaches the well to fill her waterpot for the day (v. 7). Jesus initiates a conversation with her by asking her for a drink (v. 7), then he steers the conversation toward the subject of living water (v. 10-14). By the end of the conversation, she leaves her waterpot behind, goes into town, and tells all her friends about Jesus (v. 28-30).

At the beginning of the story, John tells us that Jesus “wearied” from his travels (v. 6). The verb means to be spent from arduous labor. The form of the verb suggests that he had already grown weary and continued to be weary. He was exhausted.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m tired, I don’t want to socialize. The last thing I want to do is strike up a conversation with random strangers in public places. I don’t want to think lofty, theological thoughts. I want to sit in a quiet spot and be left alone. I want to be a lump.

Jesus’ example reminds me that to love my neighbor as myself means that if I have a chance to help someone else, I should go for it. If I have an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus, I should seize the moment. In other words, I should be motivated by something other than my feelings and circumstances. I should be motivated by love for God and love for my neighbor.

I’m not saying (and neither did Jesus) that we can never take a vacation or never unplug. That’s not the case at all (see, Matthew 14.22-23; Mark 6.31; Luke 5.16). But it does remind us that when we’re tired and presented with an opportunity to do good, we mustn’t let fatigue make the decision. Whatever we decide, we should do it because it’s the right thing to do.

When Firing Isn’t An Option

March 8, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

Lou Holtz once said, “Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.”

I suppose that for someone in a position of power or authority that is one possible solution to motivation. The head coach can always bench an unmotivated player, or increase his level of motivation with extra conditioning, or cut him from the team. The boss in the workplace can also fire an unproductive worker, or assign him to “the job that nobody wants.” I would think that sometimes this is the best way to motivate someone else.

But not always.

There are three problems with this approach. First, you can’t always get rid of problematic people. Anyone who has ever coached a team knows that sometimes the lazy athlete may also be more popular than the coach. The athlete may be protected by a prideful administrator or by irate parents. The boss may not be able to fire someone because of contract issues, union protection, or simply because he can’t afford to go out and find better workers.

Second, there are often better ways of motivating others: Being patient with someone; showing someone a better way; offering further training or opportunities; making the workplace more internally competitive. All of these things might prove to be better motivators than the threat of being banished to a deserted island.

Third, this approach overlooks the fact that some of the greatest triumphs in life come out of situations that we cannot change. There are many circumstances in life that we cannot control. I may not be able to control my coworkers’ attitudes, but I can change mine. I may not be able to change the work that someone else does, but I may find a better way to do mine. And, when all else fails, I could learn to be content. Yikes!

The apostle Paul demonstrates this kind of thinking in his letter to the church in Philippi. At the time he wrote, he was imprisoned in Rome for the impolitic act of preaching the good news about Jesus of Nazareth. Some of Paul’s fellow preachers took advantage of his imprisonment and hoped that it would cause him distress. They apparently thought that since he was in jail this would create an opportunity for their own prominence. They thought they could gain some sort of competitive advantage with Paul out of the picture. They thought this would show him that Brother Paul wasn’t the only preacher in town.

Paul couldn’t control his circumstances. He couldn’t control their circumstances. He couldn’t change their motives or their actions. Nor could he fire them. So, he found the good in what they did, even if their motives were corrupt.

Maybe you can’t change someone else’s motivation, but you can certainly change your own. Maybe you can’t change your circumstances, but you can certainly change your attitude about them. Maybe you can’t get rid of your problems, but you can choose to thrive anyway.

And that’s worth celebrating!

Why Did You Start?

March 8, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

“Think about why you started.”

I saw this quote today attributed to that ubiquitous and prolific author, “Unknown”. It’s not bad advice if you’re thinking about quitting.

Thinking about quitting your diet? Why did you begin?
Thinking about quitting your exercise regimen? Why did you start?
Thinking about quitting your job? What motivated you in the first place?
Thinking about quitting a relationship? Church? A significant life goal? Why did you ever start?

That’s not to say that we should never quit anything. Some diets probably aren’t that effective. Some exercise regimens might hurt more than they help. Some jobs were never meant to be permanent. But especially with significant things in life, the question should at least be asked.

I would also suggest it’s good motivation for Christians. To me, it nicely encapsulates the message of the book of Hebrews. The book was apparently written to Jewish Christians who were struggling with their faith in Christ. They had been Christians long enough to know the fundamentals (Hebrews 5.11-14). They already had demonstrated good works and commitment (6.9-12), and had already been through some stout persecution (10.32-39).

As they looked back at the familiar and comfortable ways of Judaism, the writer also urges them to look back as well. First he simply reminds them of the greatness of Christ. By giving up on their allegiance to Jesus, they were giving up something that could not be replaced. Jesus was God’s last word to mankind (1.1ff). He was greater than the angels themselves (chapter 1), greater than Moses (chapter 3), Joshua (chapter 4), and Aaron (chapter 5). His ministry, tabernacle, priesthood, sacrifices, and covenant were without rival (chapters 7-10). As they looked back to Jesus and to his greatness, it should evoke powerful memories of why they followed him in the first place.

Then, near the end of the book, he also asks them to look back upon their experiences. At 10.32ff, he asks them to “remember the former days”. He doesn’t ask them to think only of the good times, but in a move that would shock any self-respecting life coach, he asks them to remember their suffering. It was in that suffering, and in their response to it, that the depth of their commitment could be clearly seen. In that suffering they experienced joy and hope (10.34).

At 13.3, he tells them to remember their fellow prisoners. Those with whom they had suffered; those who were still suffering. It’s hard to turn your back on people you love. It’s hard to ignore those with whom you have the most in common.

Finally, at 13.7, he says to remember their leaders, those who taught them the gospel. Most of us came to Christ through the influence of someone significant. We should never forget them.

Whenever you’re struggling in your faith, look backward and ask, “Why did I start?” It should help cure you of the desire to stop.

For today, look backward.