Sweet Reward

As a Christ follower, there is a strive to live a life that honors and glorifies God. My heart seeks to please Him, and hopes for the day when I will stand before Him and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant". Sometimes it's hard to remember that the reward isn't here. Our faithfulness won't always get acknowledgement, and our sacrifices sometimes feel unnoticed. There have been times in my life where I have personally felt hurt by God for His lack of blessing for my faithfulness to Him, and I am sure others have felt the same. But God promises that He not only sees our faithfulness (or lack there of), but the day is coming when He will both reward and punish for those choices. 

Romans 2:6-8

God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

Authentic Christianity isn't a faith of work righteousness. We aren't saved by our deeds, but God does sends warning that while there is honor and reward for the believer, there is also eternal punishment for those who don't belong to Him. And interestingly, He first holds His chosen people accountable and the rest of us follow:

Romans 2:9-11

There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.

When God gave the Israelites His written law, they were held to a high standard of obedience to that law. After Christ's death and resurrection, the law was no longer a bondage they carried. (Though many Jews today still live by the laws of the Old Testament, and God addresses that in the beginning of the text below.)

As New Testament Christians, we aren't bound to hundreds of commandments either, but notice in the following passage what God deems righteous:

Romans 2:12-15

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)

God does not hold us accountable to the law. But He does hold us accountable to our conscience, which is law written on our hearts. If He calls us to it, we will be held responsible for our response. 

I will probably never feel the need to search for the Kosher label when I shop. But I will never forget the summer afternoon when I had a bag full of food next to me as I drove, and a homeless man walked past me as I sat at a red light. God clearly put it on my heart to get out of my car and hand the bag of food to the man walking by. I panicked, and I didn't obey. The light turned green and I drove away. That incident never left my conscience, and I lost 2 important things that day. One being, the opportunity to bless someone in need. And two, being that moment when Jesus looks me in the eyes as I enter eternity and says, "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat." 

Will other opportunities arise? Yes. But may we constantly be aware of what God is pressing on our conscience. And may we be quick to respond, fully aware that the reward isn't here, but waiting for us on the other side of eternity!