Good work well done gets rewarded. What reward do you deserve today?

Who you work for makes a difference in how you think about these questions. If you think you work for a business or provide public services of some sort, you may think you deserve rewards simply for showing up or for showing up for years and years.

A friend years ago jokingly said, “It’s my job to show up. It’s their job to see if they can get anything out of me.”

There are employees like this. They always seem surprised when they get fired or reassigned.

Daniel had the kind of work ethic that honors God and blesses others. Let’s practice our King James English and say, “Go thou and do likewise.”

Taking note of what Daniel 6:1-3 says about Daniel, let’s see what happened next. The Message paraphrases this for us with enjoyable clarity:

The vice-regents and governors got together to find some old scandal or skeleton in Daniel’s life that they could use against him, but they couldn’t dig up anything. He was totally exemplary and trustworthy. They could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct. So they finally gave up and said, “We’re never going to find anything against this Daniel unless we can scheme up something religious.”

‭‭Daniel‬ ‭6:4-5‬ ‭MSG‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/97/dan.6.4-5.MSG

If you know the rest of the story, these guys manipulated circumstances and got Daniel tossed into the lions’ den. Talk about your bad days!

What put Daniel in such a terrifying place with all the terror that goes with it? He prayed to God when an order had been issued contrary to his spiritual disciplines. Read the chapter for the rest of the story even if you know it. Daniel got more rest in the lions’ den than the king did in his royal palace. His accusers also got to spend a few moments in the lions’ den. It was not a restful experience.

Daniel lived a life God could reward. And he did.

A woman was buckling her child into the car seat when a man tried to abduct the child. A Chick fil A employee saw what was happening and tackled the would-be kidnapper. I’m pretty sure he gets waffle fries for life after that.

What will you deserve at the end of this day, week, month, or year? A deacon in one of the churches I served said a good pastor, “Makes his own raise.” Of course, he quit giving and stirred up enough trouble that my raise came when I left for another church. You’ll have to read my forthcoming novel to hear the rest of this one.

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I will live a life God can reward.

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