Doing the “Right Thing”
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Consider not only "what" the right thing is, but also "why" we should do it.
Face it: we pretty much live in an instant gratification society because we are instant gratification people. We want medicines to make us feel better “right now”. We want to take our purchases home “right now” rather than to pay them out in full and then receive them– hence credit card debt. Furthermore, not only do we want (or perhaps better expect) to be consistently rewarded for doing the “right” thing, we demand that the reward also be instant. There may indeed be many different causes for this mentality. Not all of them are necessarily bad. But there is one area in which this instant gratification way of doing things just won’t work…..with God.
Oh sure, there are immediate benefits both to becoming a Christian as well as living a Christian life. But, there is no doubt that when we study the word of God carefully and understand the concept of heaven as the primary reward of right conduct, Christianity isn’t instant gratification oriented! In fact, despite the claims of health & wealth preachers to the contrary, it never has been and never will be! (see Matthew 5:12; Luke 6:35; Colossians 3:23-24; and especially Hebrews 11:37-40) The eternal abode with God in heaven is the reward for godly living– not some other here and now compensation.
But let’s take it a step further. What really troubles me is that so many seem to be only motivated by immediate recompense. Few people seem to want to do the right things simply because they are the right things. It seems that we (in the world, hopefully not in the church) are only motivated to action by reward. Are we really that carnal and materialistic? Do we only act when there’s something in it for me? What happened to the pride of doing the right thing being reward in and of itself?
For example, I recently read an article which was a “write in with your question for the Doctor” kind of thing (Ask Dr. Gilda, I think). An older man was writing to ask the “Dr.’s” advice about a woman he was dating. Her husband had died a few years back and they had been dating a while. He stated that he would very much like to marry her. But if they married, then “she loses her pension and cannot get it back should things not work out, and she is reluctant to give up this security.” Don’t misunderstand, I get the dilemma they face and even sympathize with the lady. But what gets me is the advice “Dr. Gilda” offered. Among other things she said, “Older, accomplished people often resolve this dilemma by choosing to go against their traditional upbringings and cohabitate without the legal document. The only question is whether they can emotionally live with this choice.” Again, I think I understand the problem, the question, and the answer– I just don’t like the answer because it is not the “right thing to do” and it is rooted in instant gratification (rather than waiting until you’re sure about marriage).
If we are going to be the kind of people God wants us to be, and that will enjoy the eternal kingdom of heaven, we are going to have to commit ourselves to doing the “right thing” simply because it is “the right thing”! Whether doing it brings happiness and joy to everyone around us or it causes everyone around us to rise up and stone us to death, we have to decide and do the right thing. Of such character were the people described in Hebrews 11. The text there speaks of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. But please notice carefully the unnamed faithful of vv.35-38. And then vv.39-40 say, “And all of these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” Doing the “right thing” caused them to be driven from their homes, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, and otherwise put to death. Not quite instant gratification/reward for obedience is it? But they did the “right thing” simply because it was the “right thing” and will be rewarded with the glories of heaven eternally for it! And brethren, that always beats anything else.