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How to Make Your Feedback Better with 19 Words — And How This Relates to Justification by Faith Alone

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This is a great, short video by Dan Pink on how to make your feedback better.

What’s the answer? I’ll give it away (but be sure to still watch the video): Tell the person:

I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.

Why is this?

Because high expectations — and believing that people can meet them — motivate performance. High expectations but not believing people can meet them actually decreases and sabotages performance. As do low expectations.

This is incredibly well-backed by research. It’s called the “Pygmalion Effect.” I actually did a presentation on it in college, because I thought the name was funny. We all got a good laugh. I had no idea that it is actually one of the most powerful forces for human motivation that there is.

So don’t miss it — use it in your management and life. Not just because it works, but because it is respectful and the right way to treat people. Belief in people motivates. So does acceptance. If you say “you must earn my trust and acceptance by first performing,” you will diminish performance.

Last thing. For the theological folks (like me): There are echoes of the doctrine of justification by faith alone here. If God were to say to us “you must work hard and then you might earn my approval,” we would be sunk. We would never know when is enough, or if the goal post will keep changing. This uncertainty would make it too risky to engage in the hard work — as it may not pay off. And if it does pay off, we would be able to boast before God — thus putting ourselves at the center.

But because he says “I accept you through faith alone in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10),” we are actually motivated to excel precisely because we know we already belong to him. We know we cannot fail to have his acceptance through faith, and that makes us want to serve him because we are secure.

If we aren’t sure we belong to Christ, we will fear our good works will never be enough, and at the end of the day, that kills motivation.

It is interesting that good management practice echoes good theology.

Earthen Vessels on Kindle for Super Cheap

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Matt Anderson’s book Earthen Vessels: Why Your Bodies Matter to Our Faith is available on Kindle now for the super cheap price of $4.99.

This book is worth having. There is almost nothing out there on why our bodies matter to our faith and Matt Anderson treats the subject very well. He is, in my opinion, one of the best young writers in the evangelical world.

Here are a few blurbs:

“We evangelicals don’t think we care about the body, but we really, really do. And Matthew Anderson–one of the brightest lights in the evangelical world–helps us care, ponder, think and pray more wisely as we give our bodies as a living sacrifice to Christ.” —-Mark Galli, Senior Managing Editor, Christianity Today

“Matthew Lee Anderson…is a serious student of God’s Word and God’s world, and in this book he patiently and insightfully explores a theology of the body from numerous angles…I suspect that many of us will think differently–and more biblically–about the body as a result of this very fine work.”—Justin Taylor, ESV Study Bible

“On nearly every page you can find two virtues rarely combined: surprising new insights and good old common sense. Here is good counsel (solid, soulful, scriptural) about how to be humans, in bodies, under the gospel.”—Fred Sanders, Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University

“This book is for the church who is in the world. It is a truth-balm for a broken culture addicted to body image. Be challenged to forsake your “quasi-gnosticism” and embrace the divine dignity of your body so that you can worship well.”—Darrin Patrick, Lead Pastor at The Journey and author of Church Planter


Persevering, Not Just Enduring, to the End

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Jerry Bridges, in Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints:

The word perseverance is very similar in meaning to the word endurance, and often we equat the two. But there can be a subtle difference.

The word endure means to stand firm, and that is the theme of this book. We are to stand firm. We’re not to be carried about with every wind of doctrine theologically. We’re not to go off to this and that and the other. We’re to stand firm.

But we need to do more than stand. We need to move forward. When Paul says, “I have finished the race” (2 Tim 4:7), obviously he was talking about motion. And perseverance means to keep going in spite of obstacles.

So when Paul says “I have finished the race,” basically he was saying, “I have persevered.” We do need to stand firm, and Scripture over and over exhorts us to stand firm. But remember, that’s more than just standing still. If we get that idea, we’ve missed the point.

We must move forward. We must persevere. We must be like Paul and say “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”