THE LORD IS THE REWARD

Farm Land in Placerville

by

Silver S. Parnell

(Copyright 1996, all rights reserved)

New Age thought has crept into the common mind and has even infected some Christians with a philosophy that is contrary to Biblical teaching.

Many have adopted the craven, mercenary idea that all one has to do to ensure worldly success - financial and medicinal - is to "be a good Christian."

Jesus did not come to us for the purpose of giving us more ease and comfort here on earth. That is not the purpose of Christian life. In fact, he expressly told us that those for whom life is MOST comfortable, i.e., the wealthy folk, attaining the purpose of Christian life is harder than for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle (commonly thought to be a rather small gate into the city.)

The Eye of the Needle

Gate in Jerusalem

Our purpose is to attain HEAVEN. Whether or not life on earth is pleasant is irrelevant to that end.

The mystics tell us that heaven can be attained here on earth because heaven is in God and we can attain to that experience while still earthbound. This, in itself, makes life more bearable - at least for the time during which one is absorbed in God Consciousness. The Sermon on the Mount, among other scriptures, speaks to this reality.

Saints and sages of old have managed to remain in that God Consciousness throughout their lives, and that is the real miracle. Winning the lottery is not. Finding the love of your life is not. In fact, everything pales in comparison to merging oneself in the ocean of bliss that is the Lord.

The call of the mystics is what drew me to the Catholic church. It is our treasure and our patrimony, but it gathers dust while we play in the sand.

When I read on social media some nonsense like, "the way to attract friends is to be a good friend," it makes me want to run shrieking around the apartment, tearing my hair out. Christians should know better than to reduce life to these platitudes.

Magical concepts of like attracting like have captured the imagination of the hopeful for generations. It is the basis of all pagan religious practices, but it does not work! Has no one heard that phrase, "no good deed goes unpunished?" What about, "There's a sucker born every minute?" The world is full of people whose entire reason d'etre is to take advantage of the gullible good guy.

How many times have you done a kindness to someone, only to find them stealing from your left pocket while you gave to them from your right?

I am not saying one should stop doing kind things because of this. What I AM saying is everyone needs to stop thinking or expecting that our kindness will be repaid with kindness. Most of the time, we will be disappointed! The rules of commerce may reign supreme here on earth but they do not apply in the spiritual realm.

Think also of the Lord's admonition against inviting people to the banquet who can afford to pay you back. He tells us to deliberately invite people who absolutely CANNOT return the favor. Jesus is constantly telling us to abandon the stingy, avaricious ideals. In countless stories, he emphasizes that we must break the shopkeeper's mentality and deliberately take actions that run counter to the tit-for-tat business of life. We could not possibly pay God what our souls are worth, what salvation is worth. He gives to us freely, and if we are to be like Him, we must do the same.

We do not get earthly rewards for our faithfulness to God. God IS the reward.

Get this concept or lose everything.

Silver