Invisible Judgments and Rewards

Many times, we think of God's judgments and rewards as external consequences that happen as a result of our sin or our righteousness. But the Lord has begun to show me that many of his judgments and rewards are built into our actions automatically. Sin leads to death - period. Righteousness leads to life - period. The issue of abortion in America is a good example. We usually think of it as a terrible sin which will in time bring God's judgment in a severe, external display (terrorist attacks, natural disasters, economy crash, famine, etc.) While this is biblical and quite possibly true for this nation as well, I love the perspective of Lou Engle. He feels that abortion is not only the sin, but is also the judgment. We are walking under the "punishment" of losing that generation. Every year, 40 million unborn children are murdered in America. Each one is knit together in the womb with purpose, destiny, giftings, callings, and a strategic place in the Kingdom. When we abort, we no longer receive the "words from heaven" in those lives and we miss that generation walking in power and authority on this earth. What is more, we in our upside-down thinking do not consider it to be all that bad ("At least we didn't get dealt another hurricane"). The natural fruit of abortion is a real judgment, and because of our worldly mindset, we barely notice that we are being disciplined. We wait for an external, more obvious punishment. But there is an element of judgment in which God at times simply stands back and lets sin take its toll.

Ezekiel 16:43 paints the picture clearly for Israel:
"'Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me by all these things, behold I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,' declares the Lord"

In the same way, the fruits of righteousness are built into obedience and are often automatic in nature. Many times we also view God's rewards as external things (money, ministry growth, full churches on Sunday, miraculous healings, provision, etc.). But the Lord has been revealing to me that I am already experiencing many of his rewards and I do not notice it. For example, if I choose to abstain from sex outside of marriage, my reward is that I don't acquire a sexually transmitted disease. It is also that I have a clean conscience with my wife. Because I refrain from drunkenness, my reward is a clear mind and a life free from alcoholism and liver disease. But in my dullness, I do not even consider these things as rewards. After all, I'm entitled to my health. And the feeling of a clean conscience is only because I've successfully avoided darkness, right? Wrong. They are indeed heavenly rewards. Yet I push them aside and wait for something bigger, flashier, or more tangible.

My attitude is often that if I choose to obey the Lord, he should in some way compensate me for my losses (after all, he knows how much I'm missing out on by choosing to follow him!). This is backwards thinking, and shows that my priorities are not yet Heaven's priorities. Jason Upton once said that "sometimes no compromise means no compensation." I have been chewing on that idea and I want to be able to live in such a way that I appreciate and remember the built-in benefits of salvation (Psalm 103:2). It can be a stumbling block to wait for God to compensate me (with an external blessing) for living rightly. He does not feel pity for me when obedience is a difficult road, because in his sight, my obedience is showering me with rewards - even right now on this earth. But these rewards are quiet ones, and in the materialism of the world they are often unperceived. The quiet "thank you" of the Father is unheard (or if it is heard, it is viewed as somehow not quite enough).

God's love is so consistent and so natural in my life that I don't notice it ninety percent of the time. And He is so humble that he is willing to go unnoticed and continue loving me anyway. I want to learn to love others in that way - not expecting compensation from the people that I choose to serve.

A passage that has been on my mind is Luke 6:32-35.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men."

This is the humble love of God: to go unnoticed by ungrateful men, and to be patient and content in this kind of love. This invisible love is also what he is calling us to give to others. In his book Provocations, Kierkegaard says that "Love makes itself inconspicuous, especially when it works the hardest." But I am only content to love in this way when I am grateful for the quiet, built-in rewards of righteousness. The only way to be happy in loving people like Jesus loved them (in exchange for indifference, misunderstanding, rejection, and betrayal) is by knowing the affirming smile of the Father as Jesus knew it. The Father encourages me that every time I choose to love sacrificially, I look more and more like Jesus to others, and I actually get to see into His Kingdom more clearly. This is a quiet, internal reward, but it is one worth going after.