If money is an ineffective source of motivation, what is?

by 0 Comments

I still remember reading an article early in my studies about how a convention was held in Chicago of some of the greatest psychologists, psychiatrists, and other behavioral experts. The focus of the meeting was to address a single question: what is the source of motivation?

Where does it come from?

Motivation is an area of human behavior that has long stumped the experts. What motivates some has no effect on others, and what might motivate the masses may have no appeal to some.

Zack Guzman of CNBC reported in 2014 about one company that thinks money is the mother of all motivation, so much so it’s willing to bet its own money on your marriage:

    Seattle-based SwanLuv (named after the eternal bond of mating swans in the wild) is offering up to $10,000 to couples looking for a little extra cash to spend on their wedding — with just one catch: Should a couple take the money and wind up getting divorced in the future they will have to pay back the wedding gift — with interest.

    Co-founder Scott Avy told CNBC that demand from couples looking to take the bet ahead of the company’s official launch February 15 has been so overwhelming that he had to upgrade his servers. The idea with this financial carrot-that-turns-into-a-stick-later is simple: to motivate couples financially to work out their problems rather than bail. With the average cost for a wedding in 2014 heading northward of $31,000, the idea has growing appeal!

The only problem is, it’s the wrong motivation. Studies have shown a correlation between the more couples spend on their wedding and a heightened risk of divorce. Guzman adds:

    One such study by two Emory University economists found the hazard for divorce to be 3.5 times higher for women spending more than $20,000 on a wedding than those spending just $5,000 to $10,000.

We tend to think relationships — what specific people might mean to us — could be the greatest source of motivation available to us. One woman believed the value of a human being was such a great motivator that she tried to use such a motivation in a surprising way, as Perry Stein and Julie Zauzmer of The Washington Post reported:

    A Baltimore mother told police that her child was abducted in a stolen car — when, in fact, it was just the car that was stolen, police said.

    After searching for more than two hours for the missing little boy, Baltimore police said the boy had been safe and sound the whole time.

    But the boy’s mother wanted police to do their utmost to find her stolen vehicle, Baltimore police spokesman T. J. Smith said. So she told police that her 2-year-old was in the vehicle when it was taken.

    Smith said that the boy is safely at his day-care center. And his mother will be charged with making a false statement to police.

If the love between a husband and wife isn’t enough motivation to stay married, if on top of that money is an insufficient motivator, and even the value of human life seems to have inconsistent motivation for some of us, then is there a source of motivation anywhere that can sustain anything of value in life?

Yes.

That source has a name.

That name is Jesus Christ.

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people,” Colossians 3:23.

Scripture compels us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength — a love that exceeds all values! It is in that relationship that we discover the authentic source for what moves and sustains us, a pure fount of motivation! It’s no wonder, then, that the Apostle Paul would continue to point us to the Lord as our point of motivation in anything …

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless,” 1 Corinthians 15:58.

Does living for Christ motivate you?

Scotty