Practice Makes Perfect

On March 20, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 6: 1

Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

The idea I wish to share with you today will encompass more than just this first verse of chapter six, but let’s pause here and hear what Jesus is going to speak about.

When I read this recently it got my attention differently than ever before. I read this first verse and stopped in my tracks because of two things I heard. First, Jesus is going speak with us about righteousness. What is it and how in the world do we practice it? The part that really got my attention, though, is at the end. Jesus said that the Father would reward us for practicing our righteousness. What? Let that sink in for a moment. What does that mean and who ever thought that Father rewards us for acts of righteousness?

Can we be honest with one another for a moment? Some people are so “holy” and self-righteous that they scoff at the idea of Father rewarding us for anything. In their minds, we are to be servants of God and not expect anything in return. Let me be blunt. They are wrong. Well, either they are wrong, or Jesus is because he is about to speak with us about rewards. This first verse is a caution because Jesus doesn’t want us to lose our reward.

We need to understand that God doesn’t want servants. He can make those. He didn’t send Jesus to earth so that He could get a bunch of slaves or employees. Yahweh wanted kids. He sent Jesus to earth to build a family. Those people who scoff at the idea of Father rewarding us are actually trying to earn their righteousness. They probably don’t even realize that is what they are doing but, in their hearts, they don’t believe they are worthy of the Father’s promises. The rest of us know we aren’t worthy and that sets us free because we have accepted Jesus’ substitutionary miracle, our brokenness for his righteousness. In these next lines, Jesus is going to teach us exactly what he wants from us. He is going to show us what practicing righteousness looks like and, yes, he is going to speak to us about rewards.

Get ready! This is going to be a short, but fun, study. Perhaps you wish to save today’s Word of the Day because next week’s will pick up where we leave off today.

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Divinely Employed

On February 2, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 6: 7 – 8

With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

Not everyone has a pleasant job situation and even when you do, there is always some task you prefer not doing. God has made a way for us to endure the unpleasant tasks in our lives. Do your work as if you are doing it for the Lord. As we read through the rest of the verse we see that we actually are doing everything we do for the Lord. He is the rewarder of all we do. I also like to think of doing it with Him or Him with me. You see, every part of everyday can become part of your time with the Lord. You can move through your day with Him following along with you all day long. That is a good way to live.

God sees everything you do. That can either be good news or bad news, I suppose, but I take comfort in His being with me in everything. When you develop a consciousness of His being a part of everything you do, then you automatically want to do it to the best of your ability so that He may be proud of you. We should never do shoddy work of any sort. We should always provide excellence in what we do. Disregard from now on whether you like your boss or not. Disregard your feelings about the sufficiency of your pay check. The real consideration is, will your heavenly Father be pleased with what you have produced? If the answer is, “Yes,” then it is up to Him to pay you for good work.

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Rewarder

On April 12, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 11: 6

He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

People are so worried about God being a judge but the truth is that He is a rewarder. It is a perverted generation that calls God a harsh judge, a critical appraiser. He is the lover of our souls. If was for this reason that he sent Jesus here to die, because he loves us. John 3: 16 tells us so plainly that God sent Jesus so that we would be saved. What kind of logic extrapolates from this that He saved us just to subject us to harsh judgment. He already knew what He was getting when He sent Jesus. Had He not watched the decrepit nature and acts of humanity before he sent Jesus? 

It was precisely because God saw and knew how lost we were that He sent Jesus here to be our savior. Now He is able to just love us. God has always loved us, even when we were unlovely. He wants to pour out that love on us and He can because Jesus removed the sin that stood between us. God is the giver of good gifts. He is like a grandparent, He just gives us good things because He loves us. We don’t have to earn them. His love is all it takes to make us worthy. 

When Jesus comes back in all his glory he is bringing rewards, he is bringing prizes. “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done” Matthew 16: 27 (NIV). The judgment is that the light came into the world and people rejected the light (John 3: 19), but not you. You love the light and have made him the Lord of your life and now he has rewards for you. When he comes, he is bringing you presents.

Isn’t that just like a grandparent too? Grandma doesn’t ask if you’ve been good before she buys you that prize. And we know it too! We just run up to our grandparents and ask, “What did you bring me?” It never crossed our minds to ask ourselves if we were worthy? 

God is a rewarder and Jesus is bringing presents when he comes. They both just want to bless you, not judge you. Go crawl into Dad’s lap and receive His blessings.

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Confidence

On April 20, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 10: 35

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

Confidence is important. It often affects our performance. This is a kind of self-confidence; confidence in our training, knowledge and skills. There is another kind of confidence too. It is confidence in our salvation, our relationship with the Father and ultimately confidence in Him. This confidence really does have great rewards.

Your behaviors are significantly affected by your measure of confidence. I think of basketball players who shoot because they have confidence in their skills and they keep on shooting even if they miss their first five shots. Confidence causes you to act differently than you would if your confidence is low. You make that sales call, believing you will get the sale. Sometimes it is that confidence that gets you the sale.

Well, our confidence in God works the same way. We behave differently because we have great belief. Perhaps we pray for someone. Perhaps we have the boldness to take a step that the Father has spoken to us because we have confidence in Him and believe that He is backing us up. When we act in the confidence we have in the Father it is called faith. You do what you wouldn’t do otherwise because you believe in the one who is backing you up. And brother when you act out of the confidence that you have in the Lord, it pays huge dividends.

Is it easy? Not always, but it is rewarding. No one has ever done anything great without taking a risk. Think of some of the ministers you know and the awesome success they are enjoying. You know they went through times of fear and doubt but ultimately they let their self-doubt receded behind their faith in the Almighty. Their confidence in Him and His ability carried the day. I marvel at these folks and how they have walked on the water. It is so inspiring because they have not done anything that you and I cannot do. They haven’t succeeded because of their great intellect or because of their great skill. They have attained great heights because they trusted the Word of the Lord. They were willing. They were bold enough to step out on that Word and trust God to be capable. Their success is because of God. The difference in some of us and them is that they were willing to step out in their confidence in God and we have not been . . . until today.

Today is a new day. We can express our confidence in the Mighty One. When we do, the reward is great. I don’t say it is easy. I am just saying let’s do it anyway. We don’t even have to believe in ourselves. We just have to have confidence in Him. So, how far can we stretch today? What would Dad like to do with our faith in Him? This can get really fun. It’s kinda like a roller coaster; it’s a little frightening as you get started but oh so exhilarating and then once the ride is over you want to do it again.

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