7th January 2021
OPEN REWARD
David Abankwah
READ: Job 34:11
That your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
-Matthew 6:4 | NKJV
It may seem that the world doesn’t appreciate the righteous lives we are living as Christians, but some day in the New Jerusalem where we will be crowned and given glorious and incorruptible bodies, it will all make sense the reward for our labour of righteousness, holiness, and sanctification. I will encourage you as a believer to stop sinning and seek after what is holy and do it without expecting the world to appreciate you on it. The world is already governed by Satan, but in Christianity, we are governed by Jesus Christ and He solemnly expects us to carry out deeds that are blameless before Him. He also expects us to carry out charitable works in secret.
Goodness and kindness are part of the fruits of the Holy Spirit but they all proceed from love. There is only one fruit of the Holy Spirit and it is love. It is love that gives rise to the other dimensions of love which are faith, faithfulness, peace, joy, goodness, kindness, patience, and gentleness. If you don’t have love, being kind to people will be a difficult thing to do. Because many people don’t really love God, they can’t pay their tithes and offerings well. Even if they give, they sit back and think that they had wasted their money. If you truly love someone, you will do things that are good and kind so you can please the person. You will not only do things that will benefit yourself.
As you are doing things that benefit others without you seeking for your own honour, God is also piling such acts in His book of remembrance. Don’t think God doesn’t know what is going on. He has His own time that He rewards. Sometimes I think I should just stop writing devotionals. I have had such thoughts over and over again about quitting, but I knew within my heart that, what if God likes what I am doing? What if He wants me to carry on? What if He wants me to be an underdog for now but a pro later in ministry? What if He wants to reward me for what I am doing later on and not now? We don’t do goodness today and expect instant blessings from God today.
If we want God to respond to our goodness the same way He responds to our sins, then, no humankind would have been left on the face of the earth. This is because apart from God who came on earth to live without sin, all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. God is ever faithful. He will surely reward you openly. Maybe it may not be you but your descendants. God visits the sins of fathers upon their descendants and He also keeps mercy for thousands. So far as God doesn’t leave secret sins unpunished, so will He not leave our rewards unattended to. Do not be weary in doing good for people in secret, for at the right time, God will reward you openly when you don’t stop giving.
•| Prayer Diary |•
Lift up prayers for the diligence and relentlessness to continue doing charitable works in secret without stopping in the name of Jesus Christ.
Quote
As things that happen openly, first have to happen secretly, so you can’t be openly rewarded by God without any secretive work.
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© 2020 David Abankwah
David Abankwah 