Racking Up Your Reward | Rabbi Bentzion Shafier

It seems you can't look left or look right without being assailed with the type of images and things that you shouldn’t be looking at. You can't walk in a street, cann’t turn on an Internet portal of any device, can't ride the bus, can't ride the subways without constantly being assaulted and constantly being attacked by images that you don't want to see. And at a certain point, I think a person has to ask himself, What is Hashem thinking? Why did Hashem make it so difficult? Why is there so much out there that's the enemy, the opposite of what we are here to do? And there's one Gemarah that will put a perspective on this, and it's one Gemarah that the Satan doesn't want you to know. The Gemarah in Makos 23b says, When a man sits and he doesn't sin, they give him a reward as if he's doing a Mitzvah. And the Rambam in Perush HaMishnayos explains, when a person has an opportunity to sin, but more than that, he's tempted and he resists, he's given the reward as if he did that Aveirah. But Rashi explains what that means, 500 times the reward. A person looks where he's not supposed to look, that's a serious Aveirah. But when you resist, you are given the reward 500 times. And if you’d like to understand what Hashem’s doing, Hashem knows very, very well what he's doing. Every moment of our existence is a grand opportunity to grow, to accomplish. Avraham Avinu faced ten Nisyonos, we face Nisyonos on an ongoing, constant basis, moment after moment, place after place, wherever you go, wherever you walk. It's constantly an opportunity to be Kovesh Yetzer. And when you recognize the value of it, when you recognize the accomplishments, when you recognize it every moment I resist, I'm given reward that's incalculable. When I recognize that every time I don't do what I'm not supposed to do, it's not just - oh, I didn't sin. Big deal. Uh-uh. I won a major Nisayon, I won a major battle, and it means life is a constant opportunity to grow, to accomplish, moment after moment, racking up Schar after Schar. And when you understand life that way, you understand that Hashem knows exactly what he's doing. This generation is gifted. Never before in the course of history has there been this much opportunity for a person to resist, to not look. And every time I don't look, I’m given reward that's unimaginable. Even if the next moment I fail. Even if it's true, I failed Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, but if Monday I resisted, or even this moment I resisted, the reward is incalculable. And when you understand that, you understand the great opportunity we’re given to grow, to be Am Kadosh, to become the people that Hashem wants us to be.