Finding Fulfillment in God's Intrinsic Rewards

"and over and over again we see in that first chapter of the word good popping up God loves to create rewarding objects rewarding experiences rewarding moments when he creates Eden he says to the human being others there's these trees and they are beautiful to look at and they are good for food they're good stuff to eat and then there's gold we're told in Eden that's kind of rewarding stuff and Onyx these precious knowns and aromatic resin stuff that smelled really good and rivers run through it in a drought-stricken land to have water just gushing producing life that's a wonderful thing and then meaningful rewarding work to do rule over the Earth the sky the fish in the oceans the creatures on the ground I give you every seed bearing plant for food God says and then he gives the man and the woman to each other be fruitful and multiply that's a rewarding thing to do God is a God who loves to reward" [00:01:52]

"reward is indispensable for habit formation and of course God's the one that designed this and Charles duhigg says the Havoc Loop consists essentially at its core of these three Dynamics there is a cue you see something something stimulates oh yeah I want this and then there is a response you engage in some kind of behavior and then there is a reward ding ding ding ding there is a reward center in your brain and that's what creates the process of habit formation and that's true for every one of us so if you're listening to this and thinking I'm gonna think I'm not a feeling I'm not that much into rewards no no no no no no back in the 30s Edward Thorndike kind of the father of learning theory put a little rat in a maze put a little cheese at the end of it and then the first time he'd write down took the rats 60 seconds to figure out how to get through the Maze and then 30 seconds and then run it again 16 11 8 faster what happens every time is when the reward is experienced The Habit gets sharpened and clarified and more efficient and stronger" [00:03:12]

"and C.S Lewis wrote wonderful uh thoughts about this topic we're both in his book the problem of pain and in his essay the weight of Glory and he notes there's two different kinds of rewards we might think of an intrinsic reward an extrinsic reward if you marry somebody for their money that's an extrinsic reward it doesn't really uh fit with the behavior but if you marry them for love then marriage is the uh natural reward that goes with loving somebody or when you're learning if you learn because somebody's paying you to learn or because you get a good reputation for being smart that's an extrinsic reward and it's not terribly sustainable but if you learn for the love of learning as an intrinsic reward that's a really good thing to be able to do that's the reward that we were created for" [00:05:04]

"Back in the Day in Israel rabbis wanted young people to love God and love Torah God's word and so when they would teach Taurus sometimes they would put honey in the mouths of those little children who will learn taste and see that the Lord is good you were made to experience God in a deeply rewarding way Louis writes in the weight of Glory if we consider The Staggering number of rewards in the gospel and the unblushing nature of them it seems that God doesn't consider our desires too strong but too weak he says we are like little children making mud pies in Islam because we cannot conceive of the offer of a holiday at the seashore we're half-hearted creatures fooling around with pleasure or drink or sex or ambition when infinite Joy is offered to us we are far too easily pleased" [00:06:01]

"so now God comes to you today here this is so interesting this is now in Hebrews Hebrews chapter 11. the author writes without faith it's impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him if you're going to come to God you must believe that there is God obviously otherwise I'm not going to come but you also must believe that God is a rewarder of those who seek him now again it's not extrinsic rewards it's not like well you get a bigger house and a nicer hat and all this kind of stuff you get the joy of God you get the joy of a clean conscience you get the joy of knowing the reason why you exist you get the joy of gratitude and beauty and worship and goodness" [00:07:20]

"and the reality is if I do not experience being with God as a deeply rewarding thing I will never be able to sustain it I can't sustain it just on the basis of feeling guilty if I don't do it or feeling obligated or so and that was never God's intent God's intent from the very opening words of Genesis are to create that which is good and good and good he loves to satisfy the desires of his creatures with good thing the psalmist says Eden is a place of delight it is a rewarding place to be God is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek him with the best of all possible rewards with love and joy and goodness and beauty and truth and courage and most of all God himself so so what will it take to make this a rewarding day" [00:08:14]

"how can you make your experience of God a rewarding thing might be very very simple it's just a little bit embarrassing but usually in the mornings when I go to talk to God I will do it with a cup of good strong coffee because I just love coffee in the morning and when I associate that with my time with God it's kind of energizing for me and I kind of think God likes me better when I have coffee then I mean he loves me all the time because he's God but I think our prayer time is even more alive for him in those kind of moments or it might be simply coming back into the world that God made and man those early chapters of Genesis should remind us so much of how God wants to meet us in this Eden the world that he created for us" [00:09:17]

"stop and smell the roses now what what happens when you smell a rose you experience its goodness beauty is goodness made manifest to the senses Dallas used to say to the eye and to the nose and then I am rewarded when I stop and do that today listen to a piece of music that you love have a conversation with somebody and be genuinely curious about them and learn and Delight in the conversation give to somebody and then think about imagine maybe hear the story of how that gift impacted their life and then you will be rewarded Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive giving comes with its own rewards if we simply stop and connect the dots" [00:09:51]

"this day this day is not going to be a perfect day that's for sure it most likely will not be an easy day so don't bother looking for that but I'll tell you what this day can be as rewarding as any day you have ever lived you can seek after God it just takes two things believing that God exists and if you're not sure just thinking there's a good possibility and then to believe he is a rewarder he is a rewarder our God is a rewarder God loves to reward God wants to reward you" [00:11:01]