Offering various rewards as an incentive to motivate folks to do something, permeates today’s society. We’ve all seen parents in grocery stores think only in terms of rewarding their children — even rewarding them for bad behavior. When a parent says to their child, “If you will quit throwing a temper tantrum, I’ll buy you (insert favorite candy),” the kid quickly learns how to get what he wants.

Churches are even offering physical rewards for the purpose of gaining more people. It ranges from the “gospel of health and wealth” philosophy that says, “If you give $100, God will give you $1,000,” to appealing to fleshly entertainment to get people to attend their services.

Whatever happened to doing right because it is right? It’s true that Jesus offers men rewards, but those incentives have nothing to do with fleshly desires. In fact, He condemns those who follow him only because they are being fed (John 6:26-27). God expects right behavior, because He is holy, and we must be like him in order to share in the life to come (1 Peter 1:1-16; 1 John 2:6).

Christians are committed to a way of life that is righteous, because it is the right way to live (1 Peter 1:13-16; 1 Peter 2:11-12; 1 Peter 3:8-17). Sometimes the righteous life may offer a material advantage, but that isn’t why the Christian lives that way. At other times, being righteous may be a difficult road; the righteous may be mocked and persecuted (Matthew 10:16-24; Matthew 5:11-12). The disciple of the Lord does right when people speak well of him or treat him well and when they do not — our motivation is doing right, simply because it is the right thing to do.