Is it OK to profit off the Gospel on Steemit?

First off let me give a disclaimer that I am not God nor do I speak for God. Each one of us has access to God through His word and prayer and I encourage each one of you to seek this answer from God for yourselves. That being said, what you'll find here are a couple of scripture references along with my "opinion" and what I feel is true based on my understanding. Even though God is always the same and never changes He is dealing with us humans whom are all different. His answer to you on this issue may be different than His answer to me, not because He is changing but because us as individuals have different vices and need to be dealt with differently.

Ok, first lets look at a couple of scriptures here:

1 Corinthians 9:12 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?
But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ."

1 Timothy 5:18 For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,”[a] and “The worker deserves his wages.”

2 Corinthians 2:17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

Let's take a look at the above scriptures. It seems that they are saying that even though they didn't receive their living off the gospel that they had the right to do that. It also seems like they are saying we should learn from their example and not profit from it if we can because this can sometimes hinder the gospel message. Think about that one. How many times have we heard someone talk about a religious figure or organization being 'only after their money'. I can see how even if the intent isn't to get rich it can hinder people from accepting the gospel if it's perceived that we don't believe this stuff and are just trying to earn money off of it. I think that's the context of 2 Corinthians 2:17 as well when it talks about people 'peddling the gospel' implying that the only reason why they are preaching is to make money.

When Jesus came He seemed to focus a lot more on what was in a persons heart instead of just focusing on the actions. For example, instead of just murdering someone being a sin He said that if you hate someone then you're guilty of the sin of murder. If you lust after someone then you're guilty of the sin of adultery . My thoughts are that can apply to this as well. I think we need to examine our motives behind what we're doing. On one hand, it's not possible to turn off the ability to make money on Steemit, and posting messages about Christ is a lot better then a lot of other things you could be posting on here. Also what I'm putting into this is a lot more than what I'll get. I'm earning cents per article on Steemit so it's not like I'm taking people to the cleaners.

So, the important thing I think we need to ask ourselves is, "Is the main reason I'm posting Christian content on Steemit to make money?" If money is my goal I think that's not right and I may be guilty of peddling the Gospel. But if my goal is to encourage others and spread the message of Christ while making $1.50 then I think that's ok. But the heart is a deceitful thing so it's hard to figure out what's even in our own hearts sometimes. So here's some other questions that might help us figure out if we're posting on Steemit just for the money.

• Do I put this much passion into posting about Christ on other social media sites or is it just Steemit? If the answer is "just steemit" then you 'may' have an issue. I say 'may' because it may be the only social media site you use, but if that's the case ask yourself why? Is it because of profit or is it because it's the only blog site you use?

• If Steemit didn't pay money would you still post messages about Christ here?

• Do you talk to others about Chirst in your daily life outside of social media and Steemit?

• When you post something on Steemit are you really desiring to share it with others to help them or are you just wanting to make money?

Again, I'm not God and this is between you and God. For me, I think this is ok for me to do but I am a sinful man and may be convicted about it in the future, who knows.

How about you? How to you feel about it?