The Sweet Reward

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

THE SWEET REWARD

Rom 2:5-11

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done."   7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.

NIV

As we have thought about making that choice of either doing good or evil, which boils down to either accepting or rejecting Jesus, we want to take a look at some of the benefits of doing good or making the good choice of accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We know that God will give, and some translations use the word reward, however, the Greek word can be seen as to render, or payback, thus what God does is in response to whether we do good or do evil. Whichever we choose, we will receive the just reward, and God will pay us back for whichever we have chosen to do. Because we made that decision to accept Jesus, which is doing good, we will receive eternal life, and in addition, if indeed anything equals eternal life, or can be added to that reward, we will be given glory, honor, and peace. It is interesting that in several applications with the context the Greek word translated as glory can be used to depict, preeminence. As we saw before it can mean a judgment of view and splendor and brightness, which points to God. But in this sense, God gives us glory or preeminence. This can mean superior, or supremacy, but it also carries the same meaning as surpassing all others, distinction. This is what we believers are given, as we will reward eternal life over those who will perish. That is a great distinction between us, we have glory, and they have none. We will also receive honor. This Greek word has the direct meaning of valuing by which the price is fixed. We know God fixed the price, Jesus, on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. That is the highest fixed price God has placed our value on. This means God has placed the highest value on us, his creation. The third reward is peace. In the most direct sense peace is the opposite of war. This could be the direct meaning of this reward, to be at peace with God instead of being at war with him. We are sure waging war against God is a losing proposition, anyone who tries will lose and they will lose their lives. However, we are a peace treaty with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In addition, there is always that concept that peace means the tranquil state of our soul, assured of our salvation through Christ, and thus fearing nothing from God and content with our earthy lot, whatsoever that is. All in all, the reward for the believer, who did good by accepting Jesus, is far more than we could ever imagine. When considering the alternative, doing evil by rejecting Jesus, there would be absolutely no reason not to choose to do good, thus receiving that sweet reward.