March 25, 2024
Passage Read: Job 21-24
Meditation Verses: 21:19-21
Thought
This is what all of us desire, that the wicked are punished in this life, and that the righteous are rewarded in this life. We think like this life is all there is. We do not value or anticipate the next. Job knew he would stand before God in the end and receive justice, but he apparently didn't know of eternal life with Christ or eternal destruction away from the Lord. The torment of the wicked, for a life of selfishness and rebellion against God, will last forever. There will be no release for them; they will not serve for a few years or even a few thousand years; they will suffer torment for eternity. They did not understand that the next life was far more important and significant than this life. Same with so many who consider themselves righteous. They think more of this life and want as many pleasures from it as they can get, but they don't realize that the next life is far more important and significant than this. "I believe in Jesus, so I'll get into heaven; that's enough for me." So they live the rest of their earthly days for the pleasures of this world. It will be shockingly sad if they discover they are left out because they had no real love of Jesus. But those who suffer, whether by choice or by circumstance, because of Jesus and His Gospel are promised an eternal reward. But we want our reward in this life, so suffering for Jesus, giving things up for Him, we're not interested in that. We don't appreciate the reward He lays before us, because it resides on the other side of death.
Application
This desire for the wicked to suffer in this life is a stumbling block to many. The assurance that they will suffer for eternity for their sin is no comfort to us. In the same way, the promise of eternal rewards rings hollow to so many of us; they are not worth pursuing, but the pleasures of this world are, because we can see them, taste them, touch them. That's what matters most to us. But it should not be that way for me. I need to put my hope fully on the grace to be given me when Jesus Christ is revealed. I need to work for the food that lasts for eternity, not the food that spoils in the here and now. I need to value the eternal, not the temporary. Then both the eternal condemnation of the wicked and the eternal reward of the righteous will change how I live and what I live for.