Seize the Moment – Day 1350
Work for God’s Reward!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, November 27.
Have you ever been skipped over for a promotion, turned down for a job, or overlooked at a time of recognition? I have experienced this bitter disappointment, but I have learned that we must not allow ourselves to be consumed by a need for other people’s approval. Such a compulsion will lead you out of the way of Jesus, and into the path of people pleasing.
Wisdom will not always be rewarded in this life. Therefore, your motivation to be wise and live righteously must go beyond your desire for financial compensations, personal successes, or social notorieties. In Ecclesiastes 9:14-18, the Preacher tells a story that points to the power of wisdom, while also capturing its lack of reward under the sun:
There was a small city with few men in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it and constructed large siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor wise man and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded. The words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
A wise person is compelled to live for a greater glory (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Paul commanded in Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
Seize the moment and work for God’s reward! Live for the applause of Jesus’ nail-scarred hands, not for the approval of man (Galatians 1:10).
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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