Reward

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.   Hebrews 11:6

Our journey through the alphabet of names for God brings us to an awesome truth with “R.”  God is a Rewarder of those who seek Him—and even better—HE is the Reward!  Perhaps best of all, the Reward of God Himself is a gift of His grace.  No human endeavor can entitle us to earn such a great reward.  We cannot work hard enough or be good enough to deserve such a treasure as the Lord Himself.  This is a Reward of such magnificent proportions we actually never possess it; the Reward encompasses us and becomes our life. 

Like Abraham, we enter into its riches through faith in the goodness of God.  In the Reward, the Giver of Life--the Creator of all--enters our days bringing vast unearthly treasures.  God, who spoke the universe into being, infuses our personal reality and speaks life into everything we encounter.  When God first said, “I am thy exceeding great Reward,” He was revealing Himself in a new way in response to an act of faith on Abraham’s part.  Abraham, having just refused an earned reward from a battle, receives the ultimate Reward of God Himself.  Abraham demonstrated his confidence in the goodness of God by refusing earthly reward.  Such a heart attitude is necessary for receiving God as our Reward.   We must remain confident of God’s existence and God’s goodness!  Life has a way of casting doubt on the goodness of God.  Tragedies and struggles cloud our eyes to the good plans of God.  Yet clouds are the cloaks with which God disguises Himself.  When we insist on stubborn confidence in God’s goodness, we receive Him—life itself—and our darkness becomes a place for His glory to shine.

Receiving the Reward has a danger we must avoid.  Our worship must never be for the benefits of the reward.  Our eyes tend to focus on the earthly results of allowing God to flow through us.  We begin to mistake the Reward for ourselves.  We fail to remember we simply are recipients of the Rewarder—privileged to reflect Him.  Our ‘goodness’ becomes our treasure, and we relish the praise of men.  We misuse the Spirit in our own pursuit of wealth or honor.  We find greater pleasure in our service to God than in His great goodness.  His rewards are not what we are to revere…we are to remember He is the Reward. God’s great desire woven throughout scripture is that we will know Him…and when we know Him purely; His greatness becomes our sole focus.

He is the treasure we are to seek for He is Worthy!  Seek Him today…enter into thy exceeding great Reward.  .