Back To Home Page To Archives - Spring of Life - H. Roger Bothwell Performance Incentives Today the 2007 World Series Winning Boston Red Sox signed veteran pitcher Curt Schilling for another year. He will receive an eight million dollar contract with the possibility of an extra five million for performance incentives. Performance incentives!! What about the eight million? I guess he will get that even if he doesn't really try. However the better he is the more he will get. The whole thing reminded me of my favorite parable. It is found in Matthew 20. It's the story of the employer who paid everyone the same no matter how long or hard they worked. It flies in the face of our desire to be compensated for performance. The harder we work for God the bigger the mansion we should get and those lucky ones who have an opportunity to die for the cause will obviously get super rewards. "Sorry," says Jesus, "we all get the same." I think sometimes we are good merely for the compensation we hope we will get. What about being good because it is the right thing to do? What about not letting the left hand know what the right hand does? What about doing the right thing even if there were no heaven or hell? What kind of persons would we be? The rewarding incentive should be in the act itself and not because "He's making a list and checking it twice to see who's been naughty or nice." God is looking for a few good men; men who will be honest and true even if heaven never notices. It will and sometimes that might not be good for us. I'm Roger Bothwell and my address is roger.bothwell@verizon.net or 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453. Thank you for your support of our faith ministry. Past devotionals can be accessed at Archives