Lose or Gain?
I recently received an email announcing a new book from Leafwood Publishers. It trumpeted their latest book release, The Fulfillment Principle by Bob Westfall. It sounds like an interesting book and I am sure it has many helpful tips for life in Christ.
Drawing on the challenge of one of Jesus’ most powerful parables, The Fulfillment Principle is packed with stories, encouragement, and motivation to help readers discover and pursue their God-given gifts in order to experience the joy of a lifetime—for a lifetime.
What struck me is how many books with a similar idea you can find in a Christian bookstore. The blurb reminds me of the focus on the verse about abundant life in John 10:10.
Some titles that came to mind were Your Best Life Know and The Purpose Driven Life.
Without reading the book my guess is I would agree with the author. There is great joy and fulfillment in being who God made you to be. My thought has nothing to do with the validity of the book but instead the principle that has shaped this idea. A simple Google search of “Abundant Life” will confirm its popularity.
No, my question is about motivation. What motivates people to change? The idea of a better life or way seems prevalent in American Christianity today.
You see I’ve been reading another book, one by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, and it is called Nudge. I was reading a part about positive and negative influence and their effectiveness. I believe we have so many books like The Fulfillment Principle because we believe gain, a better life, is the way to get someone to think about following Christ.
Here is the deal. The book says that isn’t true. The example that really hit me is one about energy conservation (pg. 37). They gave two different information campaigns. In one people are told if they use energy conservation methods they will save $350 per year. In the other test people were told that if they do not use energy conservation methods they will lose $350 a year. Framing the idea as a loss was a more affective way of inspiring change.
So maybe you can see where this took me. We seem in many ways to be attempting to show people Christ through gain, a better life, more fulfillment, etc. This got me to thinking that maybe this isn’t the best way.
People don’t like to change. If you tell someone hey you can have a better life they may say I like my life just fine. The other problem is that what is better often wouldn’t be considered better by most people in our culture today. John the Baptist chose a better way and yet living as an outcast eating bugs and getting beheaded probably doesn’t fit many American ideas of abundant living.
The idea of being lost has gone out of style in many churches today. Unchurched, away from God, or any number of phrases have replaced the idea of being lost. Maybe that idea isn’t such a bad one after all. Thoughts?
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
Wow! This seems revolutionary. We like positive reinforcement, but Jesus’ teaching was full of warnings, like the possibility of gaining the world and losing one’s soul. Maybe we need to balance our preaching about what people have to gain with the message of what they have to lose.
Interesting. Thanks. Give it check see.
Thanks Wade. I hope all is well.
I agree. The American church has a tendency to try to convince people to join the body of Christ by promising them what they’ll gain. In contrast, Jesus calls us to forsake everything and take up our cross. The Apostle Paul says “I count it all as loss” for the sake of knowing Christ.