Tag: reward

Digging into Balaam’s Story

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 19, 2024

Serving God or Being Self-Serving?

In reading about Balaam’s story in the post “The Error of Balaam, it’s difficult to see what he may have done wrong. Indeed, based on this record alone, he seems like an upstanding guy.

Therefore, we need to dig into his story to what he did wrong.

There are several other references to Balaam in the Bible (Numbers 31:16, Deuteronomy 23:4-5, 2 Peter 2:15, and Revelation 2:14). These all portray him in a negative light.

Consider Balaam’s story in Numbers 22-24:

He practiced divination (and was ultimately killed for doing so).
He taught and advised Israel’s enemies on how to distract them from God and sin against him.
He was willing to do the wrong thing, as long as there was reward.
He tried to curse Israel, which God turned it into a blessing.
(This would explain why the king gave him three chances to issue a curse and why the king blamed God for Balaam not receiving his promised reward).

This certainly provides a different view of Balaam’s story.

Apparently he wasn’t such a good guy after all.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Joshua 13-15 and today’s post is on Joshua 13:22.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags Balaam, Jude, reward

Bible Insights

Mordecai Receives Honor for Saving the King

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date October 3, 2023

Our Reason for Doing Good Shouldn’t Be for Recognition but Because It’s the Right Thing to Do

Mordecai, a noble man, raises his orphaned cousin, Esther. Mordecai’s nemesis is Haman. Though Haman has everything going for him, he doesn’t enjoy it. This is because Mordecai refuses to give Haman the respect he thinks he deserves.

Haman so hates Mordecai that he wants to kill him, along with all the other Jews throughout the kingdom. This is the setting for today’s story.

One night the king can’t sleep. He asks one of his aides to read from the book chronicling his reign. The aide reads about the account of Mordecai when he thwarted an assassination attempt of the king.

Reminded of the situation, the king asks what honor Mordecai received for his heroic deed.

“Nothing,” the aide responds.

At that moment, Haman waits in the court for a chance to ask the king’s permission to hang Mordecai. When the king learns Haman is nearby, he calls for him—unaware of Haman’s intent. The king asks Haman what should be done for someone who the king wants to honor.

Haman egotistically assumes the king wants to honor him and gives the answer of what he would most want for himself. But the king surprises Haman when he tells him to go honor Mordecai in that exact way.

Mortified, Haman does as instructed. Mordecai receives honor in the way Haman had wanted for himself. Then Haman goes home in shame.

When the king’s life was threatened, Mordecai did what was right. And the king didn’t even thank him for it. It wasn’t until later—likely much later—that the king honors Mordecai for his noble deed.

When we do what is right or help others, we may see immediate recognition. Or we may receive a delayed appreciation—just like how Mordecai receives honor in today’s story. Or we might never receive any praise at all for our noble actions.

Yet God knows all that we do and appreciates it, even if others don’t.

Though the acclaim of others is nice, doing what’s right—regardless of the recognition we receive—is what matters. Our motivation shouldn’t be to gain attention or receive the applause of others.

Instead, we should be quiet and humble, doing what is right and good in secret. Then God will reward us for it (Matthew 6:1-4). And that’s what counts.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Esther 5-7 and today’s post is on Esther 6:3.]

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags Esther, reward

Bible Insights

The Bible Offers Us Hope for the Future

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 19, 2022

Because of God We Can Anticipate a Better Tomorrow

There are many reasons why I love the Bible, in fact I list thirteen. One of those reasons is hope. The Bible is filled with hope. It’s mentioned 180 times in both the Old and New Testaments.

Hope in the Old Testament

The word hope appears ninety-seven times in the Old Testament, in sixteen of the thirty-nine books. Interestingly, the word hope isn’t found in the first seven books of the Bible.

Psalms, however, is filled with hope, thirty-four times (such as Psalm 9:18).

Job comes in second place with eighteen mentions (Job 13:15, for example).

Much of the hope that appears in the Old Testament occurs in the writings of the prophets, who look forward in hopeful expectation to a better future (consider Isaiah 40:31).

Hope in the New Testament

Hope appears eighty-three times in the New Testament and pops up in twenty-four of the twenty-seven books (consider Romans 5:2).

Interestingly, in the five books written by John—who writes extensively about love—hope only pops up once, in his gospel.

The final book of the Bible, Revelation, doesn’t mention hope directly. However, the book winds down looking at a glorious future with a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1). That’s something to hope for.

Hope in Our Present World

Some of the times hope is mentioned in the Bible, it anticipates a better tomorrow in our physical world: a hope for provision, a hope for deliverance, and a hope for protection, to name a few (check out Psalm 37:9).

When we place our trust in God, we can be filled with hope that he will take care of us throughout our life.

Hope in Our Future Reality

In other places when the Bible mentions hope, it’s a perspective that transcends our physical realm (such as Acts 23:6). It’s hope in a spiritual eternity with God. It’s the hope of heaven.

This anticipates an existence with no pain, sorrow, or disappointment. Some might call it paradise and others, Eden reborn. In this future reality, we will commune with God. We will worship him, serve him, and just hang out.

Some people follow God for the hope he gives them for a better tomorrow in this world. And that may be enough.

Other people pursue God for the hope he gives them for a better tomorrow in the afterlife. And that is another reward.

The Bible is filled with hope, and it fills us with hope: hope in God for tomorrow and beyond.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Psalm 6-10, and today’s post is on Psalm 9:18.]

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags Bible, heaven, hope, reward, trust

Christian Living

What Are the End Times?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 13, 2022

Discover What the Bible Says about the End of Time

Some Christians give a lot of attention to the end times. Others choose to ignore it. Interestingly, the phrase end times doesn’t appear in the Bible, at least not in the NIV. Though four subheadings, added later, do carry this phrase.

The End Times

These passages about the end times are Daniel 12, Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21:5-36. Surprisingly, John’s epic end-time prophecy in the book of Revelation doesn’t mention that phrase. This is despite containing most of the Bible’s text about the subject.

What does the end times refer to? We might think of it as the judgment day or Armageddon. Other understandings are the end of the world, the day of reckoning, or the Apocalypse.

The End of Time

If these things are the end of time, what happens after it? Do all things, including us, cease to exist?

This might be a logical conclusion, but it’s the wrong one.

When God created our world and the cosmos that surrounds it, he also created time. Remember that scientists teach that time and space exist on a continuum. This means we can’t have one without the other. So, if God created space, he had to have created time along with it.

This means that the end of time doesn’t signal the end of everything, just the end of our temporal existence and the space that surrounds it. We will live on in the spiritual realm.

Revelation ends with a glorious look at a new heaven and a new earth, ushered in when time as we understand it ends. Eternity awaits.

Eternal Life

To those who reject Jesus and don’t accept his gift of eternal life (John 3:14-17), they’ll encounter an unpleasant outcome. They had the chance. And they’ll have more chances.

According to the book of Revelation they’ll have multiple opportunities to repent of their wrongdoing and follow Jesus. But many won’t. They’ll receive an eternal reward instead—eternal punishment. This is something to fear.

Yet to those who follow Jesus (Luke 9:23), whose names appear written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 13:8 and Revelation 21:27), the end time is nothing to dread. We are on the winning side, and good will prevail over evil. We’ll spend eternity with Jesus.

Read more in Peter’s devotional Bible study, A New Heaven and a New Earth: 40 Practical Insights from John’s Book of Revelation.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Apostle John, eternal life, follower of Jesus, Jesus, repent, Revelation, reward, salvation

Bible Insights

Consider the Timing of God’s Blessings

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date August 26, 2020

Pursue the Right Priorities

In the post about the effects of priority we saw that wrong priorities produces wrong outcomes, whereas right priorities results in God’s blessings. It is, however, worth it to consider the timing of these two events.

The prophecy is given on the first day of the sixth month. The people respond to it about three weeks later, on the 24th day of the sixth month, by starting to rebuild God’s house.

Some might say that a delayed response is disobedience. However, a delayed response is better than no response.

Then three months after reconstruction starts, on the 24th day of the ninth month, God promises to bless the people because of their obedience. Note that there is a three-month delay.

The people did not receive an immediate blessing. Instead they received a delayed one.

It might be that God wanted to make sure they would follow through and take his work seriously. Or perhaps he was testing them. Would they continue to serve him and make him a priority even if he didn’t bless them?

What if they got discouraged and gave up after a week or a month? What if they stopped obeying him on the 23rd day of the ninth month? If so they might have missed his blessing by one day.

I wonder if sometimes we give up too soon in obeying God. Do we do the right thing for a while, but not seeing any change, we revert to our old ways? If so, we may miss God’s blessings.

An important point, however, is that receiving God’s blessings is a bonus for doing what he says, not a given. Our motivation to obey God shouldn’t be to earn a reward.

Instead our obedience should be an act of love and worship. May we never lose sight of that.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Haggai 1-2, and today’s post is on Haggai 2:14-19.]

Learn more about all twelve of the Bible’s Minor Prophets in Peter’s book, Return to Me: 40 Prophetic Teachings about Unfaithfulness, Punishment, and Hope from the Minor Prophets

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags disobedience, Haggai, reward

Bible Insights

We Must Finish Strong and Not Coast Our Way into Heaven

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date November 22, 2017

How We Start Doesn’t Matter, Because What Counts Is How We Finish

Paul writes to the Philippian church to encourage them. He shares his personal ambition in hopes they’ll do what he does. He says he pushes himself to reach a goal and to win a prize, an eternal reward.

In another place Paul talks about running a race. He runs with intention. He runs to win (1 Corinthians 9:22-26). So should we.

This idea of pressing onward to win a reward is a call to finish strong. We should strive to move forward, to pursue Jesus until the very end of our lives. Though we may retire from work, we should never retire from Jesus.

The goal is not to slide into heaven by the smallest of margins but to be ushered in triumphantly because we won our race.

Some people decide to follow Jesus and think they’re all set, that they don’t need to do anything more to hold onto him.

They assume they’re in and wrongly conclude they can do whatever they want the rest of their life, because as far as eternity is concerned, their actions don’t matter.

They think they’re all set.

They’re also wrong. Jesus doesn’t want us to coast our way into heaven. He wants us to pursue our faith as though it is the only thing that matters, because it is.

When Jesus calls us to follow him, he calls us to a lifetime of following him. When we follow him, we press on toward a goal to win a prize.

We can’t lose sight of that. We must finish strong. We must finish our lives strong, for us and for Jesus.

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is Philippians 1-4 and today’s post is on Philippians 3:14.]

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags follow Jesus, heaven, reward

Bible Insights

Is Our Reward For Now or Later?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 23, 2013

Some people who follow Jesus have a future focus, greatly anticipating heaven. They endure the present while waiting for what is next.

Other people who follow Jesus have a present perspective, living boldly for today as his ambassadors to the world. The afterlife is almost an afterthought.

Which is it? Is our reward for following Jesus, now or later?

The answer is “Yes!”

Jesus said that his followers will receive a reward in the present and even more in the future; he promises us something for today and something for tomorrow.

The Bible says that what we give up for Jesus now, he will replace multiple times in our present life, with eternal life as a bonus later. When we follow Jesus, we get the best of both.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 16-18, and today’s post is on Luke 18:29-30.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags eternal life, Jesus, reward

Bible Insights

Diligence is Rewarded

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 21, 2012

In my prior post, “Listen to Understand,” I noted that listening to Jesus results in more understanding; not listening produces confusion.

This parallels Jesus’ teaching about the “talents” and the “minas” (both words refer to denominations of money).

These parables, though differing in details (likely because they were given to different audiences at different times) have the same conclusion and message.

To those who invest their master’s money wisely, more responsibility (or money) is given; to those who fail to invest, what they have will be taken away.

Just as really listening to God results in more understanding of him, so too being faithful in the jobs he has given us results in greater responsibility and opportunity.

Many followers of Jesus desire to do great things for him, but before he gives us huge opportunities, we must prove ourselves diligent in completing lesser tasks first.

When we are diligent in serving God, he rewards us with more.

[Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:11-27]

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags faithful, reward