The Unspoken Expectation
When did I decide that I deserved anything for following God? When did I develop a sense of entitlement that I was going to be rewarded for stepping into my calling? I thought once I committed my life to Christ that things would get easier, not harder. I thought I’d be rewarded monetarily, so I could bless others.
So, why has none of that happened yet? Why does obedience feel like it costs me more than it gives?
Maybe you’re like me and have caught yourself in transactional faith. You tithe faithfully but still face financial struggles. You serve God diligently but watch “worldly” people prosper.
Maybe you even wonder, “What’s the point if God doesn’t seem to reward faithfulness?”
Our culture’s Christianity seems to emphasize messages like, “God will bless your obedience with physical blessings.” We misinterpret blessing promises in Scripture and confuse God’s character with cause and effect thinking. We grasp onto an unspoken contract of “I do my part, God does His.”
I know I’ve misinterpreted Scripture. I thought Genesis 12:2—“I will bless you…and you will be a blessing”—meant that my life would be perfect once I stepped into my calling. I thought I’d suddenly be financially blessed and never have to worry about money again. I thought God would bless me with finances, so I could extend my reach, when really I just wanted financial security in exchange for my obedience.
This is transactional faith. We’ve turned relationships with God into a transaction, whether knowingly or unknowingly. We expect return on our investments for our spiritual “deposits” and measure God’s faithfulness by our circumstances.
We’ve confused earthly comfort with God’s blessings. But God never promised that obedience leads to wealth, health, or ease. He promised His presence, His character transformation, and eternal hope. True blessings aren’t measured in dollars, comfort, or perfect circumstances. And this transactional mindset can actually keep us from experiencing genuine faith.
What God Actually Promised (Versus What We Think He Promised)
Throughout Scripture, God makes us many promises. The question is: are they the promises we think they are?
His Presence
He promises His Presence. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Hebrews 13:5 says, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” This same phrasing repeats in Deuteronomy 31:6: “He will never leave you nor forsake you.”
God promises that He’ll be WITH us. Not that He’ll make life easy FOR us.
His Provision (But Not Prosperity)
Matthew 6:25-34 tells us not to worry about food or clothing. God provides for our needs. Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory.” But the key here is NEEDS versus WANTS.
God promises provision, not wealth, sustenance, or luxury. He says our needs will be taken care of, not that we’ll suddenly win the lottery when we start obeying Him.
His Transformation
When we start following Jesus, our hearts transform to become more like Him. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says we are all “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” God promises us character development, spiritual growth, and becoming more like Jesus.
His Purpose
God also promises that He’ll work all things “for the good of those who love Him” (Romans 8:28). But note, “good” doesn’t mean what we want or what’s most comfortable for us. “Good” here means conformity to Christ, or what’s Christ-like. Jeremiah 29:11 says God has “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The word “prosper” here means spiritual flourishing, not individual wealth.
Eternal Hope
Lastly, God promises us eternal hope with Heaven. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4). Our present sufferings are so insignificant compared to the ultimate glory that we receive (Romans 8:18). We’re promised ultimate redemption, not immediate comfort.
What God NEVER Promised
Financial Prosperity for Tithing
I get caught in this one. Growing up in church, I’d hear all about people who were in a financial crisis. They’d tithe anyway, and God would bless them with riches. Looking back, maybe it was a way to get people to tithe, but it twisted my view of tithing. I thought if I gave my first ten percent, I’d be blessed financially immediately after. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “God loves a cheerful giver” but never mentions that we’ll be reimbursed.
We can’t treat tithing like a business expense account.
Malachi 3:10-12 explains this: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts…your vine in the field shall not fail to bear…” God challenges us to give the tithe we owe Him and then watch to see if He keeps His promise. But God doesn’t promise wealth in return for obedience. He promises to meet our needs, but not necessarily all our wishes.
Tithing isn’t seen as giving, but returning to God what’s already His. By faithfully returning our resources, we empower the church to expand God’s kingdom which aligns with Jesus’s call to seek His kingdom first.
Health and Healing for Faith
I’ve spoken about this before—about my prayer trauma from praying for my sick family members to be healed, only to watch them die. I thought if I prayed hard enough, God would spare them. But even though God could heal them, He doesn’t promise to heal everyone.
Paul speaks of his “thorn in the flesh” as a way to keep him from becoming conceited (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). He pleaded with the Lord to take it away, but God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
I don’t pretend to understand why God heals some and not others. I’ve cried out for healing that never came. I’ve watched people I love die despite faithful prayers.
But God’s power isn’t measured by whether He does what we ask, but by His presence with us in the pain. Paul’s thorn wasn’t removed, but God’s grace was sufficient. Sometimes the deeper healing happens in our hearts when physical healing doesn’t come—and that’s not a consolation prize or a cop-out. It’s a different kind of miracle.
Success in Worldly Terms
God doesn’t promise that we’ll have an easy time here on Earth. Just the opposite, in fact. Jesus told His disciples, “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake” (Matthew 10:22). John 16:33 says, “In this world you will have trouble.” Following Jesus often means worldly LOSS, not gain. Paul writes that we should rejoice in sufferings because they produce character (Romans 5:3-5).
Trials are expected, not exceptions.
John 16:33 finishes with, “But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Understanding what God doesn’t promise exposes how easily our faith can become transactional—and how dangerous that mindset really is.
The Danger of Transactional Faith
It Destroys Genuine Relationship
When I realized I was becoming entitled, it shocked me. I saw how problematic my thinking was by expecting worldly blessings in exchange for me carrying out my calling.
I turned God into a vending machine. The quarters were righteousness and obedience, and the potato chips I wanted were blessings. This type of transactional relationship reduces our love for God and can lead to resentment. We start to love what God can give us instead of who God is. We might resent Him for not giving us what we want when we want it. And it makes our obedience conditional on His performance.
But would you want your kids to obey you only when you give them gifts? We wouldn’t bribe our kids with candy to brush their teeth every night.
It Creates Toxic Shame
Going along with this thinking, if blessings lead to God’s favor, what does that mean for suffering? Does that mean suffering leads to God’s judgment? Maybe this is why people in hardships feel spiritually deficient. We create false guilt and think, “What did I do wrong to deserve this?” or “If I had only done that, this wouldn’t be happening.”
Job’s friends are the classic example of this toxic theology. They believed that suffering ALWAYS equaled sin and blessing ALWAYS equaled righteousness. So, when Job lost everything he had, they believed it was because of a secret sin that Job had committed. But Job was righteous. They told him to repent for sins he hadn’t done.
God wasn’t punishing Job. It wasn’t retribution. Suffering doesn’t always mean we did something to deserve it.
It Breeds Entitlement
On the other side, transactional faith can lead to a sense of entitlement. This is where I found myself recently. “I’ve been faithful, I’ve been writing ARMR Collective for a year now, so where’s MY blessing?” I realized I was developing resentment toward God because my expectations weren’t being met.
This gets exacerbated when looking at “less faithful” people who seem blessed. Sometimes, worldly people seem like they have it easier. I watch blessings pour down on them, seemingly for “free”, and I think, “I deserve better than this.”
This is a dangerous spot to get stuck in. We have to recenter and remember: if we truly got what we deserved based on our sin, none of us would be standing. Every good thing we have—including our very breath—is grace.
God doesn’t care about how long you’ve been a member of Christianity; there’s no swag bag or VIP membership. We all fall short (Romans 3:23).
It Can’t Survive Real Hardship
When crisis hits, transactional faith crumbles. If we only follow Jesus for the perks, we’ll abandon Him, no problem, when life gets hard. Many disciples left Jesus when He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65). John goes on to write, “After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.”
Transactional faith is fair-weather faith. When the storm rolls in and things get hard, it blows away. Real faith is tested faith, strengthened under pressure.
In the Parable of the Unworthy Servants, Jesus speaks about a servant plowing the field. When the servant is done, the master doesn’t say, “Come and relax! Have dinner with us!” The master doesn’t thank the servant for doing their duties.
We can’t expect blessings upon blessings for doing what we’re supposed to be doing anyway.
Where Transactional Faith Comes From
So, how did we develop this mindset of transactional faith? Where does it originate from? There are four key influences that have shaped the way we may view faith now.
Misreading Old Testament Promises
Many Old Testament blessings were covenant-specific to Israel, meaning these were conditional promises for the nation. NOT universal promises for all individuals. We can’t try to claim a promise meant for ancient Israel as a blank check for personal, modern-day material gain. And we can’t believe that promises made to specific individuals back then will apply to every believer today.
This can lead to believing God is unfaithful when He doesn’t act like we expect. It can also create false hope that banks on verses that weren’t intended for personal application.
We need to read the promises in context to understand the original meaning and distinguish between promises for Israel and promises for the Church. This doesn’t mean the Old Testament is irrelevant. But it does mean we need to read it through the lens of Christ and the New Covenant, not as a handbook for personal prosperity.
Prosperity Gospel’s Influence
Lots of churches also have the mentality of “seed faith” giving where if you give money, it’s expected that you’ll get more back as a kingdom return, like planting a seed. But we start to assume the kingdom return is financial or material gain. We use health and wealth as evidence of faith and twist Scripture to support a materialistic gospel. Unfortunately, there are a lot of preachers who merchandise the gospel and use it to sway the church’s attendees to give money, not from a cheerful heart, but a guilty one.
Western Cultural Christianity
Western culture only adds to this. The American Dream gets confused with God’s Kingdom. We assume that God wants us comfortable and successful, living the American Dream. We focus on an individualistic God instead of communal faith. Then, we start to adopt a consumerist approach to church and spirituality. Consumerism already bleeds into all aspects of our lives; Christianity is no exception. We fail to realize our wants don’t always align with God’s wants.
Misunderstanding of Blessings
Blessed doesn’t mean material wealth or ease. The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 speaks about blessed are the poor, mourning, persecuted, etc. True blessing is spiritual reality, not physical circumstances. We can be blessed while suffering, which seems counterintuitive. But as Paul writes, God’s power is made “perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
What Does God Actually “Owe” Us?
Nothing.
We owe Him everything.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
We deserve judgment. Anything else is purely grace: getting what we don’t deserve. We bring nothing to the table, so God owes us absolutely nothing. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, not “some”. All. There’s nothing we can do to earn our way into Heaven. All we can do is accept the gift of grace and salvation that Jesus purchased for us.
God gives us what we don’t deserve. Everything we receive then is a GIFT, not payment or reimbursement.
So, expecting material blessings when we already fall short is counterintuitive in and of itself. We deserve eternal punishment. So, how did we get to a place where we think we deserve material rewards for doing what we’re supposed to do? What do blessings look like if it’s not a big, fat paycheck or miraculous healing?
What Biblical Blessings Actually Look Like
Spiritual Blessings Over Material
God “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3). This means our blessings include: adoption as God’s children, redemption, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit’s presence, wisdom, and purpose. These are the blessings God promises us.
Character Transformation
The Fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—are blessings promised to us. The ultimate blessing is becoming more like Jesus. Romans 8:29 says we are “conformed to the image of Christ”. To be like Jesus is the greatest blessing we can achieve.
Deeper Relationship with God
In Philippians 3:8, Paul counts everything as a loss “compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ”. Knowing God leads to comfort and peace beyond understanding.
I used to hear “peace beyond all understanding” and think, “Cool. What does that mean?” It sounded like a fancy Christian saying, something people said but didn’t really mean. Until I experienced it myself.
It’s the peace that shows up in the hospital room when everything is falling apart. It’s the inexplicable calm in the middle of a soulcrushing crisis.
It’s not the absence of fear or pain. It’s the presence of God holding you together when you should be falling apart.
That peace isn’t something money can buy or circumstances can manufacture. And once you’ve felt it, you realize it’s worth more than any earthly comfort.
Purpose and Eternity
Our lives have eternal significance. No pressure, right? Our suffering is used for God’s purposes. We were each called to do something to further the kingdom. Ephesians 2:10 says we were “created in Christ Jesus to do good works”.
Our ultimate goal is to lead people to salvation through Jesus. What greater purpose could there be? When eternity is on the line, suddenly my bank account doesn’t seem that important. My comfort doesn’t seem that urgent. And the satisfaction of knowing I played even a small role in someone’s redemption? That’s worth every earthly blessing I thought I was owed.
Our greatest blessing is the gift of salvation. Our true treasure is in Heaven, not earth.
How to Break Free From Transactional Thinking
1. Examine Your Motives
Why do we serve God in the first place? What would happen if suddenly the blessings stopped?
Would we still follow Jesus if life got harder? If we lost everything like Job?
2. Redefine “Blessing”
Stop measuring blessing by circumstances. Blessings don’t mean everything is perfect and we have no worries. Look to Matthew 5:3-12 at the Beatitudes. We need to use this as a framework to redefine what “blessed” means. We can be blessed in poverty, wealth, mourning, celebration, persecution, health, and sickness.
3. Embrace Suffering as Part of Discipleship
I don’t like this one either. But in Luke 9:23, Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily.”
Acts 14:22 says, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”
We need to expect trials, not resent them.
We can try to reframe our thinking as, “I see how this will ultimately make me stronger.”
We’re allowed to complain during the suffering, but remember: God gets the glory in the breaking AND the breakthrough.
4. Focus on WHO God Is, Not What He GIVES
Worship God for His character, not His provision. Habakkuk 3:17-18 says, “Though the fig tree does not bud…yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love (Psalm 103:8). God is good, upright, a teacher, compassionate, forgiving (Psalm 25). He is eternal, never changes, faithful, holy, just, and truthful (Psalms and Isaiah). God is love, wisdom, the giver of life, a protector (1 John 5:8, John 15:13).
And if He happens to come through for the new job we want, we can praise Him for that, too.
5. Practice Gratitude for Spiritual Realities
We need to thank God for salvation. For presence. For transformation. Meditate on the spiritual blessings listed in Ephesians 1:3-14. Shift focus from what we lack materially to what we have spiritually. We may not have the newest car, but we have been adopted as children of God. We might struggle financially, but we’ve been gifted forgiveness for all our sins so we can someday live in the Father’s house.
6. Trust God’s Timing and Sovereignty
“It’s all in God’s timing.” Trigger warning, right? I hate the phrase too when used as a dismissive hand-wave. But it’s true. (And your troubles are valid, too. I’m NOT dismissing them.) Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
We see in parts; God sees the entire picture.
Living Faithfully Without Expectation
These all sound great in theory, but how can we apply these practically?
- Give and serve without expecting return: We can serve God for who He is, not for a reward. Instead of calculating our return on investment, give cheerfully.
- Obey even when it costs you: This one gets me. I’ve spent so many hours on ARMR Collective, and it’s still not where I want it to be. But Galatians 6:9 anchors me, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” I have to faithfully obey regardless of the outcome. And I have to trust God’s goodness even when I don’t see results yet. And maybe the obedience itself is the blessing, not whatever comes after it.
- Find contentment in all circumstances: Paul learned contentment whether in need or plenty (Philippians 4:11-13). “Count your blessing” is a cheesy phrase, but we need to recognize what we’ve been given. Even in the worst situations, there’s always something, something, to be grateful for. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy. It can be the smallest, silliest thing. Anything to ground you. Hebrews 13:5 tells us to “keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have.”
- Hold earthly blessings loosely: We can’t cling to circumstances or possessions. The things of this world will pass away (1 John 2:17). We need to recognize that all good gifts come from God and belong to Him. Job 1:21 says, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.” We can’t expect our earthly possessions to follow us into eternity. Everything we cling to here stays here when we die. But what we invest in God’s kingdom—relationships, character, faith, love—that comes with us.
- Measure success by faithfulness, not outcomes: Ask yourself, “Did I obey?” That’s success, regardless of the result. In Matthew 25:21, the master says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Not “successful” servant. God measures faithfulness, not our results.
The Freedom of Non-Transactional Faith
So, instead of standing in front of that vending machine, pockets full of quarters you’ve deposited for obedience, asking “what’s the point?”, remember this.
The point is KNOWING God, being TRANSFORMED by Him, and storing up ETERNAL treasure.
When we stop expecting God to “perform”, we’re free to love Him with genuine hearts. When we stop keeping score, we experience real relationship. And when we release entitlement, we receive everything as a gift.
Letting go of transactional thinking actually leads to a deeper joy.
Remember the ultimate promise: no more tears, pain, or death (Revelation 21:4). Our reward is COMING. Just not necessarily in this life. We have a crown of righteousness awaiting us (2 Timothy 4:8).
Let’s rip up our blessing contracts and embrace our relationships with God. We can trust God’s goodness even when life is hard. And find our true blessing in knowing Christ.
When God is your treasure, you’re blessed. No matter your circumstances.
