March 21, 2017 – Luke 14
Although the poor
cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Luke 14:14
Blessing is not about
what we get in this life, but what we become for the next.
After marrying my wife, I thought it would be romantic to
bring her a rose every Friday on the way home from work. I’m not sure where I stole the idea from, but
my thinking at the time was to express my love to her and gain her affection
and appreciation. She appreciated it …
just at a depreciating level each week, to the point I began wondering whether
this was worth the time & effort.
Finally, after a business trip, I didn’t bring a rose one Friday… and
then another… and the habit changed to NOT bringing a rose each week. I forgot all about it, until she mentioned it
to a friend some months later, and how she appreciated that weekly
expression. Little did I know, her
appreciation didn’t always show in affection!!
There seems to be a time limit to receiving rewards for our
works. Students tend to expect their
study to produce high test scores.
Workers expect their efforts to be rewarded with raises. Spouses want their service & sacrifice to
produce relational connection. And most
of us pray wanting God to answer our prayers on our time scales. Not only do we expect rewards, we expect them
in an immediate timeframe. McDonalds
must have figured it out when they built their drive-thrus to pay at one window
and receive the order at the next. We
like the idea of instant turnaround on our investments.
The Bible shows God being okay with works creating
rewards. There is a correlation between
obedience and blessing – and the Lord’s promises seem to show the
connection. Jesus was consistent in teaching:
“Ask & you shall receive”. And Paul
covered the same thing for negative works, saying: “the wages of sin is
death.” God is okay with works creating
rewards … He just runs a different timetable.
Instead of works being rewarded in the temporary of now, God delays them
for when we can REALLY use them, preparing the rewards for our permanent life
in heaven.
That doesn’t imply our works can get us into heaven. We already know from Jesus that our works
don’t earn us access to eternity.
Without forgiveness of our sin, there are NO works worthy of a gate pass
to eternity. Accepting Jesus and making
Him Lord is the only way to receive that gate pass.
So why do works at all?
Because even though there are some temporary blessings, doing good
things on earth is really NOT about what we RECEIVE in this life. Doing good is really about what we BECOME in
this life. Studying is not just for good
grades, but for growing skills. Work
isn’t just for increasing salaries, but for increasing productivity. Praying is not so much getting from God what
we want, but letting God change us into what He wants. God’s blessings are far greater in growing
who we ARE, so that the next life we can handle what we will HAVE. Character is the greatest result of good
works.
Our Father appreciates our efforts, He just delays the
affection for a better time. Maybe I
need to recognize that BEFORE dropping the ball next time on the opportunity to
serve a need. The rewards will be there…
just let God choose the timing. He
appreciates it more than we know!
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