Wages or Reward

DEVOTION
PROVERBS
WAGES OR REWARD
Prov 11:18
18 The wicked man earns deceptive wages,
but he who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.
NIV
I understand the wicked may well be good people with good intentions and deeds which benefit mankind, but if a person has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior God considers them wicked and that is that. Now as far as their earnings I am also sure they might well earn a great deal of money in this life and they may well earn it in an upright honest fashion without cheating, stealing or scheming to obtain it at the expense of someone else. But all those wages, all those earnings are for nothing, as they are deceptive. That wealth may surely deceive those who earn it into a false sense of security. So many people I know, even some believers place way too much value on the accumulation of wealth. Those wages can be so deceptive as to make a person believe they are the end all to trouble and problems and that their life will be filled with good things. Yet those wages cannot provide health, nor true happiness and security. They cannot provide against emotional hardships, or difficult situations in relationships. Those wages cannot guard against disappointments, depression, or a heart filled with jealousy, envy and hatred. But most of all those wages cannot provide eternal life and so what the wicked truly earn in wages is death for the wages of sin is just that. But the free gift of God is eternal life and that is the great and sure reward I shall reap, for because of what Jesus did for me on that cross, and the fact I acknowledge that and accept him as my Lord and Savior I am considered by God as the righteous, and what I plant in this life is the truth of God. I speak it, I preach it, I write about it, I try my best to live it out loud and in front of all who I come in contact with. I am not ashamed of my faith and trust in God. I do not apologize for being who I am, and what I am, and what I do for I know it is God who does all things for me, in me and through me, therefore I am only a simply man, yet I am an ambassador of God, an alien in a foreign land representing my king. I am so thankful I will receive a reward rather than wages.