Everywhere I look people offer me rewards if I buy this or shop at their store, or buy petrol at certain petrol stations. I am rewarded on my credit card if I buy a certain amount using their card. People at the Super Market ask me “Do you have a rewards Card?” Buy one get one free. We bought a video for my grandson yesterday and the assistant said “If you buy this down the back of the store, you get a free toy that goes with the movie.”
THEN I READ MATTHEW 6 AND IT SEEMS GOD HAS A REWARDS PROGRAMME TOO!
REWARDS IN HEAVEN. Somehow that seems wrong to me. Surely heaven is enough reward and besides, if all sin is regarded as the same and deserving of hell, how can good deeds then be rated on a scale, and rewarded accordingly, yet Matthew 6:1 says “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, FOR YOU WILL LOSE THE REWARD from your Father in heaven.
I see the motivation thing (Don’t do things to be noticed by others). It’s just the REWARD THING? In heaven I will not have a desire to sin anymore! What could be more rewarding than that? And why would other rewards be necessary?
Jesus is teaching His disciples on the mountain. This is LEADERSHIP 101. I know he’s speaking about motivation for doing good deeds but He keeps bringing up the rewards thing over and over again. I don’t really care about rewards personally, do you? What is this – a “be good and I’ll give you a stamp” thing, or “be good and I’ll give you a better mansion in heaven. You’ll have one with 50 rooms instead of just 20.” or “Buy into this and you’ll get a reward in the post”.
I DON’T GET IT! WHAT IS IT WITH THE REWARDS?
Maybe the rewards Jesus speaks about are HERE AND NOW, not in the sky when we die. That would make more sense. When I do things with the motivation of getting noticed by others then that’s all the reward I get. When I do things for God, with the right motivation of genuine love for Him and others, then I am rewarded by God immediately, and others see just how great God is, not me. Matthew 6:2-6 seems to say this.