Just Rewards

Acts 9-10

During our lesson at church this evening, we discussed an Andy Stanley video about personal spiritual  disciplines using the text from Matthew 6:1-6...

Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. [...]  Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. [...] But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

 One of the focuses, was on the reward part. Not that we do these things so that we receive a reward, but rather that when we do these things God does reward us. Today's reading from Acts shows the practical outworking of Jesus' words. There was a Roman Centurion named Cornelius who feared God, gave to the needy and prayed. An angel of the Lord appeared to Cornelius with this message... “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering!”

Even though we may not know how or why God works in a particular manner, we can place our full faith and trust in him... and that is just rewards.