Sowing vs. Reaping
Quick question:
To what extent should we live for God because we are all about him vs. living for God because we get something out of it?
In other words, much of proverbs talks about doing the wise thing, and if I do the wise thing, good things will result. (sowing = reaping) But I have a feeling that God wants to make our heart like his, which would mean we should just be doing the right thing naturally, no matter the consequences. I have a hard time with this balance and could use some thoughts from you.
Related posts:
What if it only matters in YOUR heart? If you volunteer for something because you KNOW you will recieve accolades, notarioty, free stuff etc in addition to doing Gods work, maybe you’d need to stop and consider the motives. If you volunteer for something because you WANT to, and because it’s either an area you feel called to or an area you feel challenged in, you should consider then if God wants you there, if He has opened up the opportunity etc. Motive is a whole new lesson for me personally… something I never thought about before. Balance? HA! *sorry. I’m trying hard to be deliberate in my actions and thats where I find I am living my best for God and my least for the rewards I ultimately reap.
Hmmm.
When you’re trying to train kids (or anybody) early on you have to make the reinforcement immediate and consistent. Every time your three year old doesn’t wet his pants you might encourage or even reward him.
The hope that most of us have is that the motivation begins to become internalized. We don’t need extrinsic and immediate rewards as often. Specifically, it’d be a little creepy if your thirteen year old expects to be praised for making it to the bathroom without an accident.
At some point, we even hope that our kids do the right thing when it will work against them. On a small scale, we try to praise and reward young kids for being truthful in the little things, we expect them to grow to have enough character that they’ll even be honest about breaking a plate or something else that they know will get them in trouble.
The very essence of our faith is that Jesus withstood unimaginable pain that he did not deserve. The book of Job, the story of Joseph, feature figures who suffered despite the best decisions they could have been expected to make.
God believes in us that much, I think, that when we’re spiritually mature we’ll be able to do right without reward, that we’ll do right even when we’ll suffer for it.
(Note: I’m not at all claiming I’m there yet. But I’m working on it.)
The whole reaping-sewing metaphor actually supports this. Crops fail, sometimes. There are numerous factors outside a farmers control which impact the quality of the reaping.