I was listening to a podcast of a well-known and,
generally, biblically-sound West Coast speaker/ minister/author.
Something he said made me sit up and say, “ummmm…no”…He said
(paraphrasing) that it doesn’t matter WHAT we do for God as
long as we do SOMETHING; that, like a tolerant daddy, He’s just going
to be happy that we did something for Him.
Sounds great, but it’s not biblical.
King Saul, for example, was given a specific task
to do: Kill every man, woman, child and animal of a group of people with
whom the Israelites were at war…a people that specialized, among other
things, in child-sacrifice.
Saul ALMOST fulfilled his task. He kept the
choicest animals for sacrifice and the king as a trophy. And he was so
proud of what he had done for God.
What he had done was rebellious and disobedient.
And he was called to task for it. God requires willing obedience more
than sacrifice.
I’m not trying to be legalistic by suggesting that
your works will buy you into heaven…they won’t. As born-again Christians
our salvation is assured.
HOWEVER, our heavenly rewards ARE based on how we
conduct ourselves in this life…and that includes doing what we are
CALLED to do, no what we WANT to do.