Why should we do the right thing? It’s natural to think that hard work and good actions will be rewarded, while bad actions and laziness will not be. However, life doesn’t always give that satisfaction. Many people have come to expect it, where you do something good and receive it back. In many cases, this doesn’t happen. Life is unfair and unpredictable, and while we can hope that we are treated with fairness it won’t always happen that way. Personally, I think that we should do the right thing in hopes that we will be rewarded. Even though it may not work out in the end, at least you can say you tried. It also is about your conscience, knowing that you did or didn’t do the right thing. If you do something not morally okay, you have to live with it. Even if you don’t receive punishment for that action, you still know it was wrong. In the case that you do the right thing, I believe you can continue with a peaceful conscience. Also, doing the right thing has an effect on the people around you. If someone sees you doing something for the good of doing it, they will want to do the same. They will look at you as a trustworthy person.
Another dilemma is doing the right thing even if you will be punished for doing so. Once again, I think that it’s all about personal integrity. If you know it’s the right thing to do, you should do it. It builds your character, and avoids guilt or regret in the future. You could say that the punishment is too great compared to the satisfaction from doing the right thing, but I think that making the choice to not do what’s right is selfish. There’s a reason we naturally believe that good should be rewarded, because it contributes to a just society. If we can count on each other to do the right thing, it’s helpful for everyone.
In the case of Job, God picked him as the person to be put through suffering, even though he was faithful to God his whole life. This is an example of life being unfair, when Job did nothing to deserve it. I think the purpose of the book of Job is to make us realize that suffering doesn’t always correlate with sin, and also that being faithful won’t guarantee reward. Even though in the end Job is rewarded for his faithfulness to God, it doesn’t change the fact that he was punished for no reason. This just goes to show that life is unfair, and we simply have to accept that. It’s not a great message to leave off on, but it’s the unfortunate reality that the book of Job leaves us with.