REWARDS-PRESENT

God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.

Randy Alcorn

God comes right out and tells us why He gives us more money than we need. It's not so we can find more ways to spend it. It's not so we can indulge ourselves and spoil our children. It's not so we can insulate ourselves from needing God's provision. It's so we can give- generously. When God provides more money, we often think, This is a blessing. Well, yes, but it would be just as scriptural to think, This is a test.

Randy Alcorn

You may think, No problem there. I'm putting my church and ministries in my will. By all means, do your estate planning and give heavily to God's kingdom. But what kind of trust does it take to part with your money once you die? You don't have any choice! Death isn't your best opportunity to give; it's the end of your opportunity to give. God rewards acts of faith done while we're still living.

Randy Alcorn

But isn't it wrong to be motivated by reward? No, it isn't. If it were wrong, Christ wouldn't offer it to us as a motivation. Reward is His idea, not ours.

Randy Alcorn

There never was a person who did anything worth doing, who did not receive more than he gave.

Henry Ward Beecher

Blessings at times come to us through our labors and at times without our labors, but never because of our labors, for God always gives them because of His undeserved mercy.

Martin Luther

Quoted in: Leland Ryken, Puritan Work Ethic: Dignity of Life’s Labors, Christianity Today, Oct. 19, 1979, p. 17.

Though many view giving as merely another obligation, it is in reality a priceless privilege, because it is the pipeline which brings God’s promised blessings to His people…Generous giving to God results in greater giving from God; it is impossible to outgive Him. The promises associated with giving (Lk. 6:38; 2 Cor. 9:6; Ac. 20:35) should stimulate believers to be sacrificially generous givers. Sadly, the powerful lure of the world’s advertising, slick appeals from purportedly Christian ministries, self-indulgence, and lack of faith all hinder believers from experiencing the full blessing of giving.

John MacArthur

Second Corinthians, Moody, 2003, p. 273.

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself; it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.

Oswald Chambers

Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayers and worn with thanks.

Thomas Goodwin

A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 40.

God’s gifts cannot be enjoyed without obedience to Him as the Giver.

Richard D. Phillips and Sharon L. Phillips

Holding Hands and Holding Hearts, P&R, 2006, p. 49. Used by Permission.

He knows when we are spiritually ready for receive the blessing to our profit and His glory. Waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen the soul for His blessing. Waiting under the cloud of trial that breaks in showers of blessings, is as needful. Be assured that if God waits longer than you could wish, it is only to make the blessing doubly precious. God waited 4000 years, till the fullness of time, ere He sent His Son. Our times are in His hands; He will avenge His elect speedily; He will make haste for our help, and not delay one hour too long.

Andrew Murray

I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above the other; and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we could reach them. I now find that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other; and it is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower; and that we have to go down, always down, to get His best gifts.

F.B. Meyer

We fail Him, but, blessed be His name, He has never failed us, and He never will do so. We doubt Him, we mistrust His love and His providence and His guidance; we “faint because of the way;” we murmur because of the way; yet all the time He is there blessing us, and waiting to pour out upon us a blessing so great that there shall not be room to receive it.

Author Unknown

The Kneeling Christian, circa 1930, ch. 4.

Any blessing which is bestowed by the Father upon His undeserving children must be considered to be an act of grace. We fail to appreciate the mercy of the Lord if we think that by our doing something we have forced (or even coerced) God to grant that blessing which we have asked for.

David R. Smith

Fasting: A Neglected Discipline, Christian Literature Crusade, 1954, p. 44.

Are you more grateful for the blessings in your life or the One who has given you each blessing?

Karl Graustein

Growing Up Christian, P&R, 2005, p. 122. Used by Permission.

There is no inconsistency in saying that God rewards good works, provided we understand that nevertheless men obtain eternal life gratuitously.

John Calvin