A Culture Of Rewards

Read: Matthew 5:3-12

Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. Matthew 5:12

IN WORD

Many Christians aren’t comfortable with the idea of rewards. We’re saved by grace, not by works. Grace doesn’t earn rewards; it receives blessings. And even if God gave rewards, it would be self-serving of us to seek them, right? No, surely rewards aren’t part of this Kingdom of selflessness and grace.

But they are. Jesus talked about them often. It’s true that there’s nothing we can do to earn salvation—it’s a free gift of grace—but God loves to honor people who have responded to Him well. He knows we don’t deserve rewards—not in the sense of earning a proper payment—but He gives them anyway. Those who insist on living in the Kingdom culture even when another kingdom makes it painful and difficult please Him with their choices. He longs to bless hearts that are completely His. So in this Kingdom, rewards are given generously.

We don’t know exactly what those rewards are like, only that they will be great. We probably couldn’t comprehend them even if we were told. What we do know is that a Kingdom lifestyle—humility, sensitivity, deference, zeal for justice and truth, compassion, wholeheartedness, restoration, endurance—is well worth whatever it costs us. God never lets our sacrifices be greater than our blessings. He gives rewards because He’s generous toward those who love Him.

IN DEED

Enjoy the generosity of the Father. The Beatitudes aren’t impossible standards to live up to. They are invitations to participate in the Kingdom culture and reap its unfathomable benefits. When hearts and minds conform to this spiritual environment, the result is blessedness, happiness, and whatever rewards the King wants to give. They don’t make life easy in this age, but they make it very worthwhile. And the rewards only get better in the age to come.

ADDITIONAL READING: 1 Timothy 6:17-19

God is more anxious to bestow His blessings than we are to receive them.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO