15-Mar-2024 – Your faith pays the reward

Published by Sunil Binkam on March 15, 2024March 15, 2024

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward – 1 Timothy 5:18

In this portion, Paul talks about the elders and teachers of the word who labor in the name of Jesus Christ to edify the church. As a reward for their labor, Paul encourages the church to honor them.

If we understand the principle here, “The laborer is worthy of his reward,” our theme this month is “Faith.” Being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, our labor is having faith and trusting in the Lord in every situation we go through.

As a principle, our faith must produce results. It’s not because our faith is great, but because the one who honors our faith is great. He is faithful to keep His promise.

If we observe the verse once more, the ox that is treading the corn is only given the opportunity to taste it while treading. In the same way, the person who is laboring is only given the opportunity to enjoy the reward at the end.

Similarly, in our situations, if we cannot have faith in God or trust His plans and ways, because of outwardly negative scenarios, we cannot experience the faithfulness of God and the rewards for our faith.

The scenarios where we will face issues to trust God are listed below. These are very high level and will not cover everything but give us a practical idea:

1. When someone is affected by a critical illness or meets with some critical financial condition, usually having faith in God is difficult.
2. When someone who is young and already in a relationship, they may have less faith regarding marriage with a fear of losing their relationship.
3. When it comes to tithing, people in general may have less faith. They might question, if I don’t give money, will God not do good to me? etc.
4. When suddenly unexpectedly beloved people are taken away from our life, then also our faith in God can lessen.

Like this, in many practical situations, our faith will be tested. But if we still labor in faith in all those situations, our faithful God will definitely open a supernatural door for us to pass through the situation to a glorious and hopeful situation.

If today you are struggling with something, don’t let it consume you, but stand strong in faith in our Lord.

Prayer

Dear loving heavenly Father, thank you for your love and grace. Thank you for reminding us of the ox and laborer examples. There are many things in my life, which I cannot do by my own strength. Except you, no one can help me in those situations. Help me, Lord, to stand strong in those situations by remembering your faithfulness and love towards me. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!