Mal. 3-4
It is so easy to look around these days and think that the wicked will never pay for their wicked ways. There are so many who get away with whatever they want; who never see justice. They seem to prosper while those who do good struggle and are put down. Evidently this is nothing new. But we can’t let how things seem to be distort our perspective. We don’t want to make the same mistake that the children of Jacob made. God called them out because they said, “It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping His charge…. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.” (Mal. 3:14a, 15). We must not let ourselves believe this lie.
First of all, we need to understand that the “profit” in serving God is not necessarily in the here and now. At least not in the way some hope for it to be. We should not serve God for what we can gain from it. We serve Him because He is God and because of His immeasurable love for us. And we serve Him because He is the only source of true life. Once we understand that, we can remind ourselves of our hope. Then we can know for certain that it will be as He says. “Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.” (Mal. 3:18).
Rev. 22
Speaking of holding fast to our hope and keeping the end of the story in mind no matter what is going on around us, we see it again here in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible. “’Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.’ ‘Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.’” (Rev. 22:11-12). If what we have done is followed Jesus, then we know our “profit” is coming. We can stand and, with John, confidently say, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20b).