Gonzalez and Richards Chapter Sixteen > > Home

Encouraging Motivation

Pastoral Reflections

Posted Thursday, December 29, 2005 by Charlie Trimm

I am going to post another academic paper soon (on whether or not we have the exact words of Jesus or just a paraphrase), but I have a more pastoral question at the moment. I do well working with motivated people who desire to grow spiritually. They are a joy to work with. But much more difficult for me is working with people who are apathetic. How do we work with people who are not motivated to grow spiritually? People who are believers, as far as we can tell, but are content with a mediocre Christian life? I realize that ultimately this is the responsibility of God to give them a passion to serve Him, but I also realize that he often gives this passion through various instrumentalities. So do anyone of you have any thoughts on this?

Friday, December 30, 2005 12:45 PM

Sam wrote: Off the top of my head...

My first thought is to develop your relationship with these people more fully. Get to know them in contexts outside of church so they can see you and your passion for God in the "normal world." When they see that you can be both a normal person and a God-zealot, i tend to think that this will begin to sink in to them and the attactiveness of a life devoted to God in action, not just word, will draw them in.

My second thought is to keep right theology in front of your people in your preaching and teaching. Remind them (whenever it fits) that the Christian life is not about arriving, but traveling. That there is no "good enough," there is only striving (Heb 12:1-8). Ultimately, it is what we believe that guides our living. People who believe they have done enough to keep God off their back do not have proper theology.

Monday, January 02, 2006 11:59 AM

Brian wrote:

This is the role of the imagination. John Eldredge repeats this theme in every book he writes. Many have criticized his exegesis or his reliance on movies, but he has a valid point.

You have someone with a lackluster spiritual life. They need to imagine life as different before they can desire it. They need motivation that comes through the imagination more than through knowledge.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006 8:11 AM

Sam wrote: John who?

As much as i dislike what i've read of John Eldredge's work, he is a good illustrator, and i agree that imagination is a helpful component of the Christian life. However, i cannot believe you say that imagination is more important than knowledge. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom...the fear that we have of God is not created by the imagination...it is created by the knowledge we gain as we understand scripture. We become afraid of a big God who knows us intimately and can squash us. Then, we learn that he is loving and patient and has provided a way to avoid squashing...Knowlege is the key, not imagination.

A lackluster spiritual life is not going to get better because someone imagines that they can have a better life...it will get better when they know they can have a better life. Imagination will let us down, but knowledge will never do so. Paul tells us to commit ourselves to the God who can do far more than we can think or imagine. We are called to know God first and imagine second.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006 9:35 AM

Brian wrote:

Imagination is not globally more important than knowledge. It is the missing component for motivation. This reliance on knowledge that you promote has lead to a bunch of one-talent servants.

Matthew 25:24-25 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'

This servant had some knowledge of his master, but he missed some key things. He was content in the knowledge that he already possessed. It takes a sparking of the imagination to get the one-talent servant to consider that there is more than what he has already been told.

Charlie is asking how to motivate a person who doesn't see life as it...as it truly is. These facts that you gloss over need to be fleshed out and described in terms that communicate the vibrancy and compelling nature of life with Christ. This is where the imagination comes into play - in the apprehension of spiritual truth -not the fanciful creation of truth.

We need to capture their imagination with spiritual life. We have tried to capture their minds, but...said "to hell with their imaginations." Now are we upset that people are following their condemned and polluted imaginations?

The mind cannot carry the load on its own. Yes. The imagination needs to be informed by knowledge that comes from Scripture. But it is in response to the imagination that a person makes their decisions. How often have we seen this in foolish decisions? It is just as true in wise decisions.

We make life-shaping decisions based on more than merely the facts on hand. We make such decisions according to what we want life to become-according to what we desire--according to how we imagine life could be. This is true of the decision to follow Christ at any point in our lives.

It is also true of the decision to go off and build your own tower.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 7:08 PM

Fr. Larry Gearhart wrote: Motivation builds on trust... Motivation builds on trust. Someone who is generally unmotivated is usually alienated as well. When they come to trust you (which may take a lot of time, and may or may not require extraordinary "events"), they will respond more warmly to your insights and suggestions.

The best thing you can do is be consistantly truthful and caring.