Ramblings on "Rewards"

Humans are made with an innate sense of justice. We want right to be repaid with right, wrong with wrong. This is common in all religions and is the basis of ethics. It is natural to want to right to be rewarded, wrongs to be punished. Whether it is the concept of "operant conditioning" or "karma", this is a basic belief that almost everybody shares.

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
(Rom 2:5-8)

I believe in that - we all should believe in that. No matter what we believe about salvation, we know that God does not reward evil, that our actions have consequences, that true good works are, after all product of faith. I don't believe that spirituality means anything that deviates from spiritual behaviour, the qualities and "fruits of the Holy Spirit" such as love, joy, peace, patience, etc. etc.

We cannot promote a warped view common in Christianity that tries to undo this basic, fundamental, principle of right and wrong. It is not by negating this idea that we come to the miracle of salvation, but rather building upon it.

Salvation from this viewpoint is this: We all have sinned and deserve to be punished. Sin = evil. Evil = punishment. Why? Because we do harm to this earth and we do harm to others. Even if we are good, we cannot be perfect. Humanity is a hopeless case in that our good deeds can never outweigh or negate our bad deeds, because deep inside, we are all filthy and selfish and despicable. We have evil thoughts, evil desires, and every day of our lives as humans we do harm. Thus, all we deserve is eternal punishment.

However, God chose to do something miraculous, something outside of the bounds of duty or reward. He chose to do the extraordinary, to show incredible favour, he chose to save us. God rescuing and saving the sinner does not validate the sinner's evil but rather serves to emphasize the forbearance of God.

We like to think salvation removes the principle of justice completely. To me it does not - the works of a believer are the most telling, and wrong is wrong whether it is committed by a so-called Christian or a person who does not subscribe to the Christian religion.

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
(Rev 22:12)

"Boo hoo," you might say, "How can the Bible say something so unjust and legalistic as to  say hat God rewards people according to their works? Does He not save by grace and cease to judge?"

"No," I say, "Somehow, the same Bible that proclaims that we are saved despite our works, also tells us that without good works our beliefs are invalid, and that God will eventually reward each man according to his deeds. And, unless we can reconcile those truths of Scripture, navigating the narrow path that avoids the pitfalls of oversimplification or mindless rhetoric, we do not truly know what the Bible is saying."

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
(Rev 22:14-15)








My  belief is that the New Covenant is not so very radical, so very unlike the "old" as to be completely estranged from it. What changes in the New Covenant is not God's righteousness, justice, or nature. It is we who are altered, not God. It is upon our hearts that God has written the law, that we might for the first time be able to walk in accordance to His plan. It is the weaknesses of humanity that is abolished and removed, not the perfect law of God, the law of liberty. The Law of God will never be abolished, for that would be akin to destroying the nature of God. It is not God who relaxes His standards but we who are, beyond the highest of our capabilities, transformed into new creatures and endowed with the perfection of Christ.

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
(Rev 19:8)

To me, right-being cannot be divorced from right-doing. A good tree produces good fruit, the Bible teaches. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor a bad tree good fruit. 'Nuf said.



One truth I hold to strongly concerning the nature of our lives on this earth as followers of the Messiah (Christians) is that is imperative that we observe Jesus' commands and example, and live according to it, that it is highly important that we are generous, loving, kind, peaceful, merciful, long-suffering, self-sacrificing, gentle, etc. etc. This is reiterated so many times throughout Scripture that we cannot ignore it.

The first thing people look to us as "Christians" should not be our religious knowledge or religious observance. It should we our love for others, the "light" and "joy" and "hope" we bring just as the Messiah did when he was born on this earth.

Our lives must reflect both the birth of Christ and His death, his entire living - his graciousness, his obedience, his complete lack of selfishness, etc. etc.