I heard a preacher, don’t know his denomination. Makes no difference. Just happened that I landed on the channel for a few seconds. What he said made me think. Hopefully, it will cause others to think. Basically, he said we should not do good for reward.

Now, you know. That just sounds right. To be sure that doing good without expecting reward is admirable. I have often considered the impossible. For once I would like to surprise the Lord and do something good that he doesn’t expect. You and I both know that’s not going to happen, though I’d suspect that He would like it if we try. And He would especially like it if we expected little or nothing in return.

However, it is an error. When we do that which is good, it is what we are expected to do anyway. I mean, what good can we do that He doesn’t already tell us to do? What good can we do that is outside of His instructions.

So I thought on it and realized what the preacher said was in error. Salvation itself is a reward for faith. Abraham was rewarded for his faith and for demonstrating his faith. Soloman was rewarded for asking for wisdom, not power, fame or riches. God rewarded him with power, fame and riches. In at least one place, I can’t think of the passage, but we are admonished to seek first the kingdom of God. In this it is implied that we should expect reward in possibly this life or the next.

Over and over again, God told the Israelites to do as He told them, and they would be rewarded greatly, and they were. Certainly, He didn’t imply that they should do right just because it is right. God did offer the rewards. The first five books of the Bible are full of examples of God offering rewards for obedience. If it is wrong to expect rewards, it does produce a bit of irony. For, doing good for reward would be doing bad. Hence, as the preacher said, we should not seek reward.

On the other hand, if we do good simply because we love him and want to please him, that’s a pretty good thing too.

However, in all this, we should remember that without Christ Jesus, it is impossible for us to please God. That is true, reward or not. Our hope isn’t so much to impress Him but to be obedient and have faith. The two are just almost synonymous. Because of the faith we obey him. In doing so, we will please God, and we will be rewarded, whether we seek reward or not.

Certainly, also, we should be careful of what we expect for a reward. Fame and fortune can be as much of a curse as a blessing. Still, I wouldn’t mind a little more in my bank account. Never did care much for fame. If you see me at a party, you’ll likely find me in the corner where I won’t be noticed.