One of the most awesome things about God's work of sanctification is that our desires and even needs change so radically.

I'm bothered that so many church leaders (at least in my experience), when seeking to "motivate" others, completely fail to truly give the Holy Spirit credit for His sanctifying work. Just a few examples:

* Show pictures of starving children in order to increase giving to missions

* Maintain an appearance of impending financial disaster in order to "motivate" people to give more.

* Attempt to shame people into serving as church officers or Sunday school teachers or nursery workers (don't even get me started on the age segregation thing).

Christians do not need to be "maneuvered" into serving God. They need not be cajoled, manipulated, pushed, pleaded with, and certainly not shamed into serving God.

Guilt is a completely illegitimate motivator for Christians, because Christians are not guilty!

It's the Galatian error all over again, and leaders who resort to this kind of manipulation are in fact, practicing witchcraft (that's the Apostle Paul's word for it, not mine - see Galatians 3:1). So this question of what motivates sanctification (and this wonderful thread) should be required reading for all church officers of all denominations.


Last edited by Robin; Tue May 04, 2010 6:54 AM.