Why be good? What does God owe us for all we have done for him? A pastor friend of mine grieved with a prominent member of the church who was diagnosed with cancer. The man complained, “After all I have done for God, how could he let this happen to me?” Suffering is hard to comprehend. John Donne wrote in his elegy to death, “Soonest our best with thee do go.” Some of the best people I have known have suffered the greatest losses.
Job struggled with this also as he asked, ‘Why did I avoid sin if this was God’s response.” Somehow, he thought his godliness would shield him from harm. But Elihu teaches about the transcendence of God. God is not directly affected by our sin as much as our fellow human beings are. Our sin does not change God.
So many of our human relationships are transactional, that we may think we have a quid pro quo relationship with God, too. We scratch God’s back and he scratches ours and all is well. The scriptures are clear: God does not owe us anything. After giving us his only Son, he can never be in our debt.
Why be good? Because God is good. He created us in his image and redeemed us at the highest cost. God’s kindness leads us to repentance. In gratitude, we owe him our whole lives. Let’s give them today as living sacrifices in true worship.
