03.03.14 The 12th Snare that Causes Some Seemingly God-Fearing People to Succumb to Corruption
12. Seeking to be ‘Rewarded’
Some officials expect to be compensated for every single service they render, claiming that ‘there is no free lunch under the sun’. They are reward-oriented when serving stakeholders. Those rewards are not necessarily monetary but could even include food items, clothes, training opportunities, properties, promotions and so forth. This was the argument that Daudi used, after asking Keziya the statistician for a bribe to speed up the processing of her payment at Tafiti Technologies. The then Technical Manager had shamelessly related how the Finance Department was not ready to ‘work for free’.
It is one thing for a client to reward your efforts; but it is another for an officer to run after a reward. No wonder, the love for rewards can drive an officer to engage in corruptive activities. Isaiah 1:23 links that love for bribes with the tendency to follow after rewards. It reads (NKJV): …Everyone loves bribes,And follows after rewards.
Rewards are so wicked a weapon that Satan offered the whole world as a ‘reward’ to Jesus Christ if only the Son of God could bow down and worship the devil. Matthew 4: 8-10 reports what happened (NKJV): 8Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10Then Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him