Romans 6:23 English Standard Version (ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Wages are not rewards and neither are gifts. The term reward is used 43 times in the Old Testament and 37 times in the New Testament (KJV count).

Psalm 28:4 English Standard Version (ESV) Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.

This verse highlights the context of this discussion. It should be a discussion because there will be some who see things differently.

Life owes us nothing but death. There is no reward for surviving. If we take God at His Word, then Psalm 28 implies there are rewards to be had in life for what we do, both good and bad. We have been given this life in Christ and as such our focuses is on our rewards based on this relationship.

Yet we live in the world and this realm belongs to the Prince of the Power of the Air, Satan. As such he grants us rewards for our behavior which aligns itself with his influences upon us. What are the rewards for bad behavior?

The first reward for sin is an appetite for more. Sin may please us for a moment but those pleasures are fleeting and need to be experienced again and again.

The second reward of sin is dissatisfaction. Enough is not enough, we want more because our appetites cannot be satisfied.

The third reward of sin is judgement. If we cannot be satisfied in all our efforts to gorge ourselves on sin, then it has to be someone’s fault for withholding what we want.

The forth reward of sin is theft. If we cannot earn what we want, we will steal it.

Does this pass the smell test?