What's Your Reward?

In our current series, we've been looking at the things that you constantly hear people refer to when they talk about how God has grown & stretched their faith in Him. One of the things that you inevitably hear people refer to is the moment in their faith where they began to take some personal responsibility. They began to cultivate private spiritual disciplines like prayer, giving, Bible study, or fasting. There's no doubt that these disciplines play a powerful role in our spiritual growth, but they can also be dangerous. After all, if our faith somehow moves from being in Jesus to being in our faithfulness to practice these disciplines, our faith has shifted to something that has no power on its own. Even Jesus scolded the Pharisees for their diligent study of God's word, not because of their study but because they assumed their faithfulness to study would somehow save them. The opposite was the case. God's word was given to reveal His character & nature while pointing to the coming of Jesus, & somehow in the middle of all that studying they still missed the Messiah. So in Matthew 6, Jesus gives us a stern warning about the dangerous nature of misplaced faith in one's spiritual disciplines.

The funny thing is that when Jesus starts talking about this issue, He starts by talking about rewards. His warnings all center around the fact that if our spiritual disciplines are about being seen or recognized by others, we'll miss the real reward that God wants to give us. We'll get the reward we want: people's recognition, but we'll miss the reward God offers: Himself. You see, when we come before God in prayer or in His word, our goal shouldn't be that we can then share with everybody about our incredible prayer time or Bible study. Instead it should be an opportunity for us to spend some time with our Father. The reward when we're faithful to give & invest in God's Kingdom isn't that we're "sowing a seed" & that somehow God will send us payback. Instead it's a personal, private declaration of trust in our Father, & our reward is His presence & the assurance that our Father provides for us. God's presence is the reward, & it's infinitely better than any pat on the back from someone who only sees what we let them see.

"It's Better To Get God, Than To Get Anything Else We Want."

There's no doubt we want to be recognized. We want people to approve of us, maybe even to admire us. However, if that becomes a driving motivation, we've made that need for approval our god. Instead we should utilize prayer, personal Bible study, giving, & fasting as spiritual disciplines or habits that bring us into God's presence & declare our trust & reliance on Him as our Heavenly Father. Spend some time over the next few days to read Matthew 6:1-18 & take a hard look at your private spiritual disciplines & your heart. Why do you pray? Is prayer how you bring God your "to do" list? Do you only pray when other people are around so they can hear you? When you give are you hoping someone notices & gives you credit? If you stopped getting a tax write off would you stop giving? Examine your heart, examine your motives. What reward are you really after when you practice these spiritual disciplines? Are you looking for approval from people, or are you simply looking for God?