Choices and Rewards

“By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward.” (Hebrews 11:24–26)

All misery is the result of sin in the world, and all sin rewards us with misery. We have inherited misery from our forefathers’ sins, we are miserable because of others’ sins against us personally, and we are miserable due to our own damnable sins. It is impossible for us always to know which misery comes from which specific source, but when it is all said and done, where misery is, sin is involved somehow, even if the only one we know to blame is Adam!

For all that, however, God calls us to suffer. “In this world you will have trouble,” Christ said. (John 16:33) “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution,” wrote Paul to his beloved Timothy. (2 Timothy 3:12) To the Philippian church he wrote, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” (1:29) The Christian life is chock full of blessings and joy and the most wonderful things imaginable—and a goodly amount of misery.

The choice for us to make is which misery we are going to take for ourselves. Are we going to take the misery that accompanies godly living, as Moses did (as did Paul and Timothy and the Philippians et al.)? Or will we choose the misery resulting from “the passing pleasures of sin”?

For sin not only produces misery—it is pleasurable. If sin did not contain pleasures, who would partake? The pleasure stolen from God's creation is what makes sin so attractive in the first place. But here is the important point not to miss—the point between heaven and hell, actually: the pleasures of sin are passing, while the misery sticks around forever.

So again we have the choice before us, the choice facing Moses in the courts of Pharaoh in Egypt. We are going to suffer one way or the other, and we are going to experience pleasure one way or the other. If we choose the way of sin, the pleasure is passing and the misery eternal. If we choose the reproach and sufferings of Christ, the misery is ephemeral, relatively speaking, but the pleasure deep and weighty and everlasting. Faith always takes the second option, looking out ahead to the final and lasting reward, not the present fleeting one.

“Heavenly Father, grant us the grace to suffer for Christ’s sake and to choose suffering over sin every time. We give You thanks that not only Moses but especially our Lord Jesus suffered for our sakes that we might know the eternal bliss of His joyful presence. And we pray in His name. Amen.”