What motivates people to change?
Here’s a list of things that I’m coming to terms with…
Things that I see which don’t change people or organizations but should: (Generally speaking)
- Biblical truth
- Their current reality, state, or condition
- Current position, authority and/or aspirations of
- Scientific research or law
- Reading books about other organizations or people who change the world
- Inspirational stories on the internet, television, or radio of success and/or failure
- A new program at their school, work, or place of worship
Now, if you are part of an organization, think about the amount of money you spend on the list above. Probably most of it.
Chew on this…
Things that I see which do help people and organizations change behavior: (Generally speaking)
- Selfish ambition, money
- Accessibility to something which feeds their ambition, money
- Fear of losing their family, friends, position, income
- Losing family, friends, position, income
- Fear of being discovered
- Being discovered
- Peer pressure, positive or negative
- Cultures laws, mores, and taboos
Thought #1: Behavior change isn’t the point of the Gospel.
Thought #2: Behavior change can be a manifestation of the Gospel in an individual or organizations life.
Thought #3: The majority of my time/my resources/my energy is invested in things that should change behavior but don’t. There’s a gulf between “ought to affect change” and “does affect change” that people I need to wrestle through.
Thought #4: When I stop trying to be the answer for the top list and start building community where the bottom list is shared openly, then I see the Gospel go places I never thought it would.
Thought #5: As a believer, according to Scripture, I am the answer to the change the people in my life so desperately search for. The question for me to wrestle with is this, “Do I want to be the person people expect me to be and focus on the things that ‘ought to affect change’ or do I want to look in the mirror, deal with my own mess, and help people exchange solutions that don’t fix a thing for solutions that are really hard but affect long-term change.”
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