When I was growing up in church we had several different people come to speak at the church and there was a lot of testimony. I can't believe how long it took me to realize the inconsistency in one particular part of these testimonies:
I knew that I was doing what God wanted because the devil kept sending bad things my way.
I knew that I was doing the wrong thing because I wasn't being blessed and bad things kept happening to me.
or the inverse:
When you do what God wants you to do you will be happy and rewarded with good things.
The devil will try to send good things your way so that you will be tempted to go against God.
In the end I finally realized that good or bad things cannot be used as evidence of living a good Christian life because the only difference in these testimonies was what these people "felt" was good or bad. True evidence is consistent, and this obviously wasn't.
It's pretty simple: do the right thing regardless of whether you will be immediately rewarded or not. Don't let rewards or failures detract or deter you. If you don't know what the right thing is, keep learning, keep striving, keep reading.
The right behaviors are about long term rewards not short term validation. Continue to strive for what you know is right and let the rest fall by the wayside.
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