Incentive Driven Culture

By Kris Groda

Schools are doing it. Businesses are doing it.  Even some parents are doing it.  Incentives programs are big.  We all have, to some degree, a  "What's in it for me?" mentality.    We will get involved if it benefits us in some way.    Kids are motivated to make the A honor roll if they know they can get a free dinner at El Chico's.    Harts Bluff students get free tickets to Six Flags if they complete 6 hours of extra-curricular reading.    According to the February 2012 issue of Texas Monthly, our very own Guaranty Bond Bank was ranked 22 in the Top 100 best mid-sized          companies to work for in Texas.   Business       consultants have identified perks like pay        packages, bonuses, healthcare, paid vacations, work attendance rewards, free concert tickets, company pizza luncheons, morale boosting       contests, employee appreciation parties and a host of other incentives have made for some really sweet jobs but in some instances have    become a necessary evil to keep and motivate people to be good workers for their employers.

While incentives are good things, it seems there really is a problem when people grow to the point that diligence in work and study has to be rewarded.  Is it that way in the church?   Yeah, I think so.    What would Bible Bowl be with our   ribbons and trophies?  What would Pew Packers be like without a medal for doing memory work?  What would our Peak of the Week Bible Class be like without a points chart for doing church work that we should be doing anyway? What would    being a bible class teacher at North Jefferson be like without an Annual Teachers Appreciation Banquet?   Brethren, I am not coming down on making our work fun and enjoyable or even     having a system that would motivate and help us organize and keep track of our work.  But we need to keep things in perspective and do church work with the right motivation.  We need to        remember the true and everlasting incentives.

What incentives do Christians have to be good students, employees, and laborers in the vineyard?    Let me submit a few ideas from the Holy Scriptures.

Hebrews 11:8-10 "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same     promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. "

2 Corinthians 4:16-18  "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but  for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Romans 8:18 "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

Hebrews 11:25-26 By faith, Moses,  "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward."

Colossians  3:23-24  "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ."

Jesus taught, "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.  Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets" (Luke 6:22-23). 

Am I incentive driven?  Yes, I am.   But not by what man can do for me, but by what God has promised me.   I am motivated to serve God and my neighbor because I want to bring glory to God (1 Corinthians  6:20; 1 Peter 4:16) and that will be glory for me (Romans 8:17).