For some coincidental reason or so I just recently heard three of my friends on the same day say, “I deserve this and I deserve that” without any work beforehand, and we talked and talked and at the end of the conversation I started to ask myself “what do we truly deserve?” Or personally “what do I truly deserve?” And after plenty of thinking I concluded that we only truly deserve what we have worked for.
Now this statement “You only truly deserve what you’ve worked for” made a lot of sense to me but feel free to disagree, but this statement in my opinion cuts through modern debates about entitlement, privilege, and fairness, and again, at its core, it challenges the notion that success, respect, or resources should be granted or given without effort, and that is what I want us to talk about and explore why earned rewards is one way to achieve personal growth, society’s trust, and and most importantly genuine fulfillment. Let’s look at it firstly from the Christian worldview, and if you are unbeliever you can take the points from the verses for knowledge sake plus I don’t intend to start a sermon.
Christian Worldview: What You Deserve
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 NIV
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 NLT
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 ESV
When you hear the word wages it suggests to all of us that work has been done and there is a payment to be received, and these works are sinful works both in nature and in character, so therefore the wages of sinful work is death.
For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Roman 5:17 NLT
The above scripture is one of the bases of all edifying things that follows or ought to follow and be evident in the life of a believer, through the gift of righteousness. Now even though it’s through a gift this gift is only given to those that are deserving, those that have worked, or asked for it, without the intention of playing with word and sounding like I am playing with semantics here, because if you a bible scholar or at least know the bible that an extent I’m sure by now you must have thought of this next scripture:
For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God;
Ephesians 2:8
You might now start to think boom! Clearly this is an example of something undeserved, and yes, you are right but now the next question is, what then did I mean by “even though it’s through a gift this gift is only given to those that are deserving, those that have worked, or asked for it?”
Let’s read the next verse in different translations: James 2:17
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James 2:17 NIV
So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
James 2:17 NLT
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
James 2:17 ESV
So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.
James 2:17 BSB
So also, faith by itself if it has not works, is dead.
James 2:17 BLB
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
James 2:17 KJV
Now there is a lot more in the explanation of these verses about God’s external gift of righteousness, faith with work and relationship with God. And I am NOT trying to start a sermon here but my point is this, before the anyone can start to dive deep into this knowledge, receive God’s gift and work your personal relationship with God; this journey start with simple very very simple but work nonetheless, that this bring us back to what I’ve stated again and again, “even though it’s through a gift this gift is only given to those that are deserving, those that have worked, or asked for it” and again how is this so? Romans 10:10
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Romans 10:10 NIV
For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
Romans 10:10 NLT
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:10 ESV
For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.
Romans 10:10 BSB
For in the heart is belief unto righteousness, and in the mouth is confession unto salvation.
Romans 10:10 BLB
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:10 JKV
And with your mouth by openly declaring your faith that you are saved, this is what I meant by work, your very first walk in faith, only then are you deserving of this gift of righteousness “even though it’s through a gift this gift is only given to those that are deserving, those that have worked, or asked for it”
Unlike my two good friends on that matter, I’m saying you have to show some work beforehand, then and only then will you be truly deserving of something. This doesn’t take away the place of affirmations and positive confession, just as it doesn’t take the place of hardwork in anybody’s life. And I hope you get the points I tried passing across because this is not a sermon like I said but I felt the need to address that part of the Christian worldview just in case it comes to mind like it did for me. Now let’s look at it from a Philosophical foundation.
Philosophical Foundations: You Only Deserve What You’ve Worked For
Meritocracy vs. Entitlement
The principle aligns with meritocratic ideals, that is, rewards correlate with contribution, and the ancient philosophies like Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics argue that virtue cultivated through effort is the path to eudaimonia (flourishing), and the work ethic involved ties moral worth to disciplined labor.
Aristotle, like I said before, argued that flourishing (eudaimonia) arises from practicing virtues (Nicomachean Ethics, Book II), and that courage, wisdom, and justice require habitual effort and not innate talent. From Telos (Purpose): A knife’s purpose is to cut; a human’s purpose is to reason virtuously, and merit lies in fulfilling this purpose through disciplined choices, actions, and work.
Even in relationships, some might say otherwise but trust is earned, not owed, not freely given. A partner who invests time in communication, effort with genuine intentions and actions “deserves” deeper intimacy than one coasting on charm.
The Psychology of Ownership
Studies in behavioral economics reveal the endowment effect: people value what they’ve earned more than what’s given. For example, students who self-fund college often outperform those with full scholarships, as they feel a deeper stake in their education.
You Only Truly Deserve What You’ve Worked For
I know without a doubt that we and by we, I mean you and I often found ourselves daydreaming about success, and sometimes more of this with little to no work at all, and we imagine a life where things just fall into place, right? Trust me, I know that feeling a lot if not more than you do, a life where rewards appear without the struggle or at least smart and hard work. But by now I’m sure we already know that life doesn’t work that way, or does it? If you know a way that it does please let me know in the comment section, I need all the help I can get too. I honestly believe the hard truth is that we only truly deserve what we’ve worked for. Anything else, no matter how much we desire it, remains out of reach until we put in the effort to earn it or at best it was given to us as a gift and if it was please by all means receive but don’t kill the gift by not using it as it ought to be used. Like we already read that: FAITH WITHOUT WORK IS DEAD
We live in a world that often sells us the idea of instant gratification (delay gratification), we see people achieving success overnight, or so it seems, and we wonder why we aren’t there yet. I’ve felt that frustration too, trust me, in fact I wrote an article about it.
Most people talk about overcoming frustration on their journey to success when they have achieved their perceived success, but that is not the case for me at the moment. Have I achieved success? Yes, I have in many areas; I’ve set a lot of goals over the years, and I have certainly attained them and achieved a lot. Still, this is a new phase for me, or I would like to think of it as a new phase; I have a lot on my plate and a lot of goals, both BIG and small, not just dreams. Dreams are like visions, but goals are the missions, the targets, so I have a lot of that, and I can honestly say that I have been doing a lot of hard and smart work,butas we know, if you want to move up to greater heights; the more you do, the more you see that, there is more to be done, which is okay, the issue is that I am kind of feeling frustrated.
This feeling is the very thing I am trying to describe, this frustration that comes with doing, doing, and doing the work, but it seems like the closer you get, the further the success; that distance in between is what I call this frustrated feeling. This feeling of frustration reminds me of Zeno’s paradox.
Continue Reading: How To Deal With Frustration On Your Journey To Success
But when we look closer, we realize that most of those “overnight successes” are actually the result of years of unseen effort, discipline, and perseverance; there are really no shortcuts to real accomplishment.
I can remember vividly, a time when I wanted something badly, a personal goal I believed I deserved, and I kept telling myself that I had the potential, that I was capable, and that it should come to me, which we ought to, I urge you to always do the same, tell and remind yourself that you can and that you have the potential and capacity to pursue, build and to achieve, but deep down, and very importantly, I knew I hadn’t done the work necessary to earn it. When I finally decided to commit, to put in the hours and push through the struggles, I experienced a transformation, there was this happiness, I can remember calling my brother to tell him and then treating myself to a good meal and after that a good sleep, because it took me a little over 2 years to achieve what my very dedicated and consistent friends achieved in 7-8 months, and long story short I went on to later lose it because I got greedy, and yes, like I always do after a some personal reflection and introspection, I wrote an article about that too, double standard.
At some point in our lives, we have all been there and done it. I have for sure had a double standard, but recently I thought very deeply about it. I remember back in my university days, I had an issue with a friend, which I will not be going into details, but it was very much about my standards. I was not willing to take the road I disagreed with because, for that particular event, it was the same thing as having a double standard and not practicing what I preached.
Now sometimes this double standard can be a form of bias, and sometimes it is so small that we might not even see it because it sometimes takes a high level of consciousness to spot these things, but in my case it was obvious, and I felt this unease inside of me, so I decided to ask this friend to know if they see it as having a double standard because this is someone I know who likes to set standards too, but unfortunately they did not feel a flinch with the decision, masking it in the “its for the greater good” slogan.
Continue Reading: Double Standard Is No Standard At All
The sense of achievement I felt when I finally reached my goal was incomparable because I knew I had earned it, I had put in the work, I was the boxer. And that’s the thing about working for what we want, what we need, it doesn’t just give us results; it gives us a sense of fulfillment.
We all have dreams, goals, and aspirations. But if we aren’t willing to dedicate ourselves to them, do we really deserve them? I think the answer is clear. When we work for something, we gain more than just the end result, we build character, resilience, reputation, and self-respect. And when we finally achieve what we’ve been striving for, we can stand tall, knowing that it wasn’t handed to us but was rightfully ours.
So, as you move forward in your own pursuits, let me remind you that your dreams are only as valid as the work you put into making them a reality. We don’t just deserve success because we want it; we deserve it because we’ve earned it. And that, I believe, is what makes every achievement truly meaningful.
Read Also: The Error In Asking Someone To Love You The Way You Are
Read Also: Standing For The Truth Regardless Of How You Feel
Read Also: Don’t Sell Out, Don’t Be Cheap
Conclusion
So next time before you update your WhatsApp status or tell your friend you deserve this and you deserve that, know that to “deserve” is not to demand but to demonstrate, whether in careers, relationships, or self-respect, effort transforms aspiration into legitimacy. As J.K. Rowling, rejected by 12 publishers before Harry Potter, proves: ownership of your achievements begins when you stop waiting for handouts and start working.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Vince Lombardi
