Monday Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 9:18
18 What then is my reward? That when I preach the gospel I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.
Devotion:
Why do we do the things that we do? Is it for personal gain, monetary gain, and political means or is it just because we enjoy doing what we do? Most of us will have to admit to all of the above because we would have done things for various rewards be them personal or other. There may be very few things that we do for the good of the community rather than for our own good. There always seems to be motive behind things that we do... Is that right? Or is that wrong? That is a question that you are going to have to ask of yourself and it may well be difficult to find an answer. I cannot hope to pass judgement on anything that you do, but I can compare what I do with what the gospel tells me; that way I can find out if what I am doing falls in line with what God expects of me.
It is no good trying to compare what we do against the rest of the world because most of the world does not seem to work for God, but against Him. It is no good comparing yourself against a ruthless business person because you would be comparing yourself against his world. It is no good comparing yourself with a great preacher or evangelist because you are not in their shoes. God does not call us all to do the same thing but to do different things in life so that we can help and support each other in Christian love.
The apostles were called to go out into all the earth and preach the gospel. That is what they were called to do and anything short of that would be failing in their work for God. It is not the earthly rewards that we should be seeking for heavenly work but heavenly rewards. To be able to give out God’s Word as freely as we can is a fantastic reward in itself, knowing that we are able to tell someone else of God’s fantastic gift to us all... We are all given free will and free choice, but we are all called to continue in God’s ways because He has given us true guidance in the gospel.
Points to Ponder:
Do you seek reward for everything you do?
Would you accept Christ’s love as a reward?
