Rewards

Posted by Kacy Fabie on Apr 22, 2011 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

American culture centralizes on the concept of “doing good.” Actually, the word, “Good” (agathos) means profitable, benefiting others, whereas the related word “kalos” means constitutionally good, but not necessarily benefiting others.

Which one motivates you? Do you “do good” to benefit others, or do you “do good” because it’s the “right” thing? Perhaps you are drawn to “doing good,” because it will ultimately make you feel better about yourself? Can “doing good” be just as much “selfish” as it is “self-less?”

The incentive of “reward,” is masked in almost everything we do: parenting, training a dog, teaching, even our jobs. This is not a bad thing, it’s just the reality of our human nature. God desires to give good gifts to His children, and we mimic His principle through our daily interactions. But, what if we are “doing good,” out of selfish ambition? I think Oswald Chambers explains this well, “Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ.”

Let’s now take a deeper look at Ephesians 6:8. Although there is a sense in which good, honest and cheerful work of a slave might bring limited reward during earthly life, “It is ultimately the judgment seat of Christ that the apostle has in view here.” (Search God’s Word Commentary). Whatever people may do, Christ will reward all of his workmen at last. It is the consciousness which would enable the workman, even though he was a slave, “to work zestfully and cheerfully” even for a master who was unreasonable in his demands and impossible to please.

So let’s focus on doing good, not for the immediate, selfish reward, but for the eternal reward that will far outlast anything “good” thing here on earth.