Fair Wages

Fair Wages. Do your work well and get paid well. Do your work not-so-well; get paid not-so-well. We would typically call that a loss of wages, but in reality, the wages of not-so-well done work are lack, worry and stress. Wages are not lost. They are fairly distributed according to the quality of work done…in a perfect world, that is.

The Shepherd said “anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple [student], I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward”[1].

In the Greek, this word reward refers to wages. In other words, the person who does well by receiving a righteous man and giving water to those who are thirsty will be paid wages according to the quality of their work. They will be rewarded.

This principle is repeated often by the Shepherd…in word and in deed. He says, “follow me” and “learn from me,” then He goes about doing good to others. And in a final, humble act He gives His life so others might live. The basic principle is this:

A live given sacrificially, willingly, is a life gained eternally.

I came to this revelation over time, but finally journaled about it last night. This theme runs throughout the Good News about the Shepherd. His mantra was that you must give to receive. You must lose life to find it. He lived these principles as He taught them.

He wasn’t promising some future hope. He was bringing it to life in the present. He said that his students, who abandoned all, would “receive a hundred times as much in this present age”[2]. In other words, they would be paid for their work now, and paid well.

The Shepherd is a fair wage kind of guy. Follow His lead and you will be paid well now and in the future. As the Jewish Proverb says, “The wages of the righteous bring them life…”[3].


[1] Matthew 10:41-42
[2] Mark 10:30
[3] Proverbs 10:16