Jeremiah 44:18
“But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.”
One of the mistakes many Christians make is that they expect the reward for doing right to come quickly. This is the mistake the Israelites made while they were captives in Egypt. They stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven, and they expected God to immediately bless them. They felt if they did right, God would immediately return them to their homeland. What they forgot was that the consequences for their sin had already gone into affect. Just because they started doing right didn’t mean that the consequence of sin would no longer affect them. Because they didn’t get immediate rewards for doing right, they decided to go back to their sinful lifestyle to their own detriment.
We must always remember that there are consequences and rewards for doing right and wrong. Neither the consequence of sin or the reward of doing right come quickly. When you study life, you find that consequences and rewards take time to have an affect. You must be careful to give right a chance to pay. Just because you don’t see immediate rewards for doing right doesn’t mean that it doesn’t pay to do right. You simply have to give your right actions a chance to go through their cycle to rewards. Let me give you some thoughts on how to give right a chance.
First, don’t do right for the sake of rewards. This is where many people become frustrated with doing right. Many people already have an idea of what they think their reward should be for doing right. This only sets you up for disillusionment. What you feel you should be rewarded and what God gives as a reward may be two different things. If you do right for the sake of rewards, you will stop doing right when you don’t get the rewards in your expected time frame. Doing right for the sake of rewards will only cause you to be disappointed with God.
Second, do right for the sake of doing right. If you do right because it’s right, then you will never be disappointed with doing right. Doing right without an expectation of rewards will only cause the rewards for doing right to be that much better. You must decide that you are going to do right because it is the right thing to do.
Third, give right a chance to bring its rewards. Always keep in mind that everything has a season. The consequences of sin didn’t happen immediately, and the rewards for doing right won’t immediately come either. They both have a season they must go through before they actually happen. If you will do right for the sake of doing right, then your patience for doing right won’t be an issue.
Friend, let me remind you that doing right always gives good rewards. Just because everything doesn’t seem to be paying off the way you expected doesn’t mean that your good is for nothing. Don’t give up on doing right and go back to a sinful lifestyle, for that will only bring the adverse circumstances back. I don’t know how long you need to give right chance, but if you will wait on the LORD, you will be pleased with the rewards that doing right brings.