Everyone likes receiving a reward. Many of our rewards are intangible, for example, when one’s children grow up to be happy contributing adults, it’s rewarding. We expect a reward for our work, which usually has monetary value, and those who aren’t working for income appreciate acknowledgement. Many people accomplish much, and they are greatly rewarded.
But, what about those who have little opportunity, who have disabilities, or are regularly overlooked by those to whom they look for rewards? I wonder if they pray like David did,
O Lord, by your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life.
Psalm 17:14
Wealthy and powerful people have been well rewarded in this life. Some of them use their influence and funds to assist those who struggle to make it in this world, hopefully because they realize that life in this world is not the end of the story. There are others who feel that this life is all there is, and they grab all they can while they can. Their reward is solely in this life.
Jesus spoke to those that the world had ignored, who weren’t getting many, if any, rewards in this life. In the Sermon on the Mount, he told the poor in spirit that theirs was the kingdom of heaven, those who mourned would be comforted, the meek would inherit the earth, the merciful would be shown mercy, the pure in heart and peacemakers would know God, and that those who desire righteousness would find it. His audience ate it up. The rulers of Rome and the leaders, pharisees, scribes, and teachers of the Jewish religion felt threatened.
It wouldn’t get much positive press today either.
Jesus was leading people to open their eyes to see a far greater reality than rewards earned on this earth. He was envisioning eternity, and those who were focused on rewards in this world could not see it.
Of course, that’s a generalization, for some well rewarded people in Jesus’s day understood his message. In the USA, most of us have been better rewarded than those who struggle in oppressive regimes or poverty-stricken countries, and many of us also understand that this life is only the beginning of life with Jesus.
About a third of the uses of the word reward in the New Testament are included in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said we would be rewarded in heaven when we are persecuted for following him, love our enemies, give freely and secretly to those in need, don’t make a big deal of our prayers for appearances sake, and Paul added that we should build our lives on the truth of the gospel, follow God’s will for our lives, and do everything in service to Jesus.
It’s a bit tricky to focus entirely on heavenly rewards. When we follow Jesus and do what he calls us to do, he says he will reward us and I believe him, but if the reason I’m doing what he wants me to do is simply for the reward, I’m not so sure. I hope I’m following Jesus out of love, obedience, humility, and a genuine desire to serve others. However, the times I am really serving myself, Jesus says, my reward will be only what I manage to gain in this life.
I suspect that eternity with Jesus will be full of highly rewarded people we have never heard of, whom this life did not treat well, and who hung on to Jesus with mighty faith and love.
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
Revelation 22:12
Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash
Connecting Dots...to God 
This Judy’s post raises one of the natural truths that Jesus revealed but it is not supposed being repeated in public, anywhere in the world, as clear as Jesus did when he said: “It is easier for a camel/rope to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God”.
In fact, as mentioned on Judy’s post, the rulers of Rome and the leaders, Pharisees, scribes, and teachers of the Jewish religion felt threatened (I also won’t be surprised if I witness, in our days, a similar reaction). They clearly heard, in this Jesus saying, that they were brought into life just to serve temporarily the material world, nothing more, as all other living things are created to do.
Since always, the ‘material world’, as designed, has to be run by masters and slaves, though the two words, master and slave, have been replaced cleverly, in every period of time and region, by using new modern ones (to make the masters safer and the slaves feel better). For a master ‘group’ (since the character of a superman or a dictator may exist in movies only) to play its natural role in life, it has to be powerful and rich (usually behind the scenes). For instance, let us recall that power and richness are twins. They follow each other, upwards and downwards (for example and always in the ‘material world’, one cannot be ‘real’ powerful and poor, or ‘real’ rich and powerless).
The question now is: Who is the rich person that Jesus is referring to? He is, in general, a rich person who ended up joining (deliberately or not) a certain powerful rich group and has, therefore, to serve it, as necessary, in order for him to be on the safe side (and stay at his given high/privileged position). This group is usually formal (well organized) and likely related, directly or indirectly, to a ruling system (social, religious or political, locally or foreigner). Such a rich person has to work always for the interests of his group and observe its rules, besides obeying/executing special instructions, once a while. Therefore, living ‘God’s Unconditional Love’ towards all others (the gate to the Everlasting Life), as revealed by Jesus, makes him a traitor against his group.
By the way, Jesus doesn’t judge rich persons because, as I said earlier, they are just important pieces, by design, in the material life’s chess game, played by those who are of the world. They have a living flesh ‘only’ to take care of by following its natural instincts of survival, superiority, selfishness and of applying justice on others, to name a few… much like the case of all other livings things.
Knowing this natural truth and being not of the world, I just watch without confusion how the rich men around the world have to play various roles (social, religious or political) to support and protect their interests while using cleverly the multitudes in their region and/or abroad. And a student of God/Jesus, as I am, doesn’t need, for example, wikileaks to discover what is hidden behind the scenes in the today’s universal daily series, titled ‘Politics’. Jesus reminded me a simple but very effective hint that never fails: “Ye shall know them by their fruits”. So, when the fruits became clear, sooner or later after an important event, I don’t need any sort of evidence to discover the hidden truth(s) while the real fruits on the ground say everything.
What about the post’s title “Where is Your Reward?
To those who perceive in them a living being (spiritual) besides their living flesh (physical), they live in two realms, physical and spiritual. Although the notion of love exists in these two realms, its nature is not the same in both.
On the one hand, love, in the physical realm, is supposed to unify two fleshes, male and female. And its natural reward is gained in certain times and places only (temporarily). So, in order to let this chemical love somehow stable and permanent, an authority (civil or religious) which the couple lives under (or approves) has to confirm officially the union of their two fleshes by a contract known as marriage (whose rules and rituals differ from one region to another).
On the other hand, love in the spiritual realm is strictly personal that doesn’t need to be confirmed or approved by any third party. The reward of feeding one’s soul by living God’s Unconditional Love towards all others (this opposes most flesh’s crucial instincts) is a permanent inner joy (not limited by time and space) despite anything that may happen to one’s body, including its death. I am afraid that if a person doesn’t feel this permanent joy, he better forgets about living the unconditional love, as revealed by Jesus, and focuses instead on how to live the natural pleasures of his flesh since the temporarily worldly life is all he has. This is why Jesus added: “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine”.
By the way, the first Apostles and Disciples followed Jesus and lived the Unconditional Love towards their enemies till their last breath, not because of fear. They did it to protect their inner permanent great joy for being able to defeat the robotic nature of their body (which is supposed to be guided solely by its pre-programmed instructions/instincts). This is why Jesus told them that they were no more of this world, as He is not of this world.
Thank you for reminding me to live for Christ and to serve Him!
And thank you for taking the time to comment, Kim!
Gre