What's My Motivation?

Recently I've seen two of the Sherwood Pictures movies, Courageous and Fireproof. If you haven't, you ought to. Sherwood Pictures is the "movie arm" of Sherwood Baptist Church. They are movie makers who make Christian movies with very good Christian messages. Flywheel, believe it or not, is about a Christian used car salesman who decides to be an honest used car salesman for Christ and ends up, through all the difficulties that entails, having a booming business because people respect honesty. Facing the Giants is about a Christian football coach that leads his team to play for the glory of God regardless of the outcome, resulting in a championship team and a surprisingly and wonderfully pregnant wife. Fireproof gives the message, "You never leave your partner". Revolving around a fire fighter, it tells the story of a couple on the edge of divorce. The husband is urged to try the Love Dare, a 40-day plan to become a better spouse. He comes to Christ, learns to love his wife, and she, in turn, loves him back. And then there is the latest, Courageous. This one is about a police officer who decides that he is not being the father he needs to be. He and a few of his friends commit to "The Resolution", a commitment to be the father and husband God requires. One fails, but the rest, through trials and hardships, come out as better fathers and husbands. These are good movies and good messages. But I have a bone to pick.

I know, I know, it wouldn't make a good movie, but where is the reality? Look, we like to think that "If I do the right thing, good things will happen." We're told that's true. In Fireproof one husband tells the other, "A woman's like a rose; if you treat her right, she'll bloom, if you don't, she'll wilt." That's the kind of wisdom we recognize. Do the wrong thing and it will be bad. Do the right thing and good things will happen. But I need to point out that it ain't necessarily so. Now, I could give anecdotal evidence, stories of people who did what was right and didn't experience pleasurable consequences. But anecdotal evidence isn't the best. Let me offer biblical proof. There is the "faith chapter" in Hebrews which assures us of many people of faith who "all died in faith, not having received the things promised" (Heb 11:13). The author of Hebrews says that these people were commended by their faith. "Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated--of whom the world was not worthy--wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised" (Heb 11:35-39). There are all those Old Testament passages where believers ask, "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" (Jer 12:1; Psa 73:3, 12; Psa 82:2; etc.) Oh, and there is the story of the Son of God who came to Earth, lived a perfect life, and was executed for it. The truth is that doing the right thing does not always result in pleasant circumstances. It is perfectly possible that a husband could be a good husband and have his wife leave him. Being honest at work does not always result in promotion. Sometimes playing for the glory of God results in loss rather than gain. Good parents sometimes have bad kids. No, it doesn't make a good movie, but if this is true (and, biblically, it is), what's my motivation for doing good?

Those biblical accounts offer that answer as well. Jeremiah, in the depths of hopelessness, wrote,

I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD."
Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end;
They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him."
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD (Lam 3:18-20).

The author of Hebrews says simply, "God had provided something better for us" (Heb 11:40). He goes on to say,

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:1-2).

The truth is we're not promised that if you do good, life will be pleasant. We're not promised that treating your husband well will make him a good husband or that having integrity at work will make you prosperous. We are not promised health or wealth. We don't become honest car salesmen to become prosperous car salesmen or play for the glory of God in order to win the big game. We don't work at becoming the husbands we ought to be in order to save our marriages or the fathers God requires in order to save our families. We are commanded to have integrity, to do all for the glory of God, to be the husbands (and wives) God commands, and to be godly fathers. We are just not promised pleasant outcomes. But we are promised God. And, look, in all honesty, if that's not enough, those other things won't be enough either.