We Do It for God

Verse of the day: Judges 11:10-11, And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.

After being rejected by his family and Israel, Jephthah is now in a place where he is being raised up by God to deliver Israel from their enemies. Jephthah has no desire to be used by them and then discarded once they have no further use for him. He warns them that the promise they are making, they are making before the LORD as their witness. The place that was chosen to make this agreement, Mizpah, is significant. It was the same place where Laban made a covenant with Jacob (Genesis 31:43-50). Jephthah was a man of faith, and one who was noted for his faith in Hebrews 11:32. Essentially, Jephthah demonstrated that he was cautiously agreeing to help Israel but trusted that God would take vengeance on them, should they break their promise to him. One writer wrote that Mizpah meant “watch”, and the idea behind making the agreement there was that God sees their promise to Jephthah and would punish them if they did wrong concerning their promise. This is a very important lesson for us today. There will be many occasions when the Lord will call upon us to serve people who are ungrateful, and people who will turn on us and reject us when they no longer need our help. Many will seek mercy, grace and forgiveness when they need it, but will be slow to return such mercy, grace and forgiveness when it is in their hands to give. In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus told the story of the unforgiving servant who was forgiven a great debt, but later refused to forgive someone who owed him a smaller debt. When the master who forgave the first servant found out, he became angry and imprisoned the unforgiving servant for refusing to show the same mercy shown to him. It is very difficult for us, from a human perspective, to do good for those who we suspect will only use us or treat us and others unfairly when they have the opportunity to return the good done to them. However, God says this in His Word, in Galatians 6:7-10, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Clearly, God sees all that we do when He calls us to serve Him by serving others, regardless of how it is received. We are further reminded that God is the One who will exact vengeance on those who persecute us or curse us; therefore we should simply continue to return good to those who do evil against us (Romans 12:9-21). The bottom line is that regardless of who the recipient is of our good, our service to God, it is for God that we do it, and it is God who will ultimately reward us. The Apostle Paul put it best when he wrote this, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in Colossians 3:23-25, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. 25 But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.” We must never regret doing good for someone when we know that God was the One who sent us. We cannot control how other reacts to, or receive, the good we do for them. However, we can always trust that God knows their hearts, and ours, and already knows what the end result will be. Ultimately, both the giver and the receiver will stand before God to give an account for all they have done, and failed to do, in this lifetime (Romans 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:10).

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).