A reward for your deeds? hmmm...sounds like a plan to me! Let me ask you this though ... what do you believe your reward will be? The final answer is in Heaven, obviously - spending eternity with our heavenly Father is our ultimate reward, (Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens...). The thing is, any one person's definition of reward may be different from another's and different again from God's. To someone who is ill, good health would definitely be considered a reward, but would it be the same to someone who is healthy as a horse? To someone living in a shelter, a small apartment would be a reward, but would it be grand to someone who lived in a mansion? Someone who hadn't eaten all day and had no money for food would be thrilled to find a $20 bill, whereas someone of great wealth wouldn't be that impressed. So you see, rewards have different definitions for different people.

It's too easy to look around at all of your "stuff" and see what you don't have rather than what you do. The media bombards us daily with the message that we should have it all ... with little to no effort. Think McDonalds - "You deserve a break today" or the slew of reality TV shows that seem to be on every channel. Can't see to find Mr. or Ms. Right? Don't sweat it - skip the hard part and go on Elimidate, Date My Mom or NEXT and let someone else do the legwork for you. Want to get a great paying job without having to climb the corporate latter? No problem! Just get yourself an audition for The Assistant or any of the other shows like it. Don't like your car, your house or your face but don't know what to do about it? Let someone else make the changes for you! Trading Spaces, I Want a Famous Face, What Not To Wear, Queer Eye For the Straight Guy and Pimp My Ride are just a few of the places that will make it easy for you. All in all there have been over 200 reality tv shows that have "graced" our screens of late in the US alone! God says "let not your hands be weak" which, for me, translates to "do your own work" - and the world says "be smart - let someone else do it for you and that's the reward within itself".

Satan uses what we don't have to blind us to what we do have. He infects us with the "not good enough" disease every chance he gets. If he can convince us that nothing in our lives is as good as what we deserve, then the seeds of "why isn't God taking better care of me?" will start to sprout. Don't let yourself get caught in that trap. When the devil starts to harp on what you don't have, remind yourself of what you do have. Remind yourself of the great blessings that you get daily - the ones that you're so used to that you've started to take them for granted. And then remember to thank God for them - because all of the "good stuff" comes from Him!