Rewards
By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
In my small hometown in Kansas, I regularly visited the post office.
In that post office, there was a bulletin board with wanted posters. Each poster featured a photo of the wanted individual along with a brief description of the crime they were accused of committing. While I didn’t spend much time reading those posters, there were occasionally visions of grandeur that would flit through my mind as I saw the ones that offered a reward for information that would lead to the arrest of the wanted person. The visions of grandeur centered around the reward more than anything else. Little thought was given to the danger that may be involved and much more dreaming was given to how to spend that money on items that were sure, in my mind, to make life so much better.
Needless to say, I have not collected any rewards for helping find wanted persons or any rewards for anything else.
Unless you count the store rewards that they give you for being a faithful customer. Of course, I have also realized early on that monetary rewards will not bring happiness no matter what you try to purchase for yourself.
There are other rewards, however, that are much better than airline miles, credit card points, or any other store credits. The rewards are much better than crime stopper rewards or lost and found rewards.
They are the rewards found from daily walking with God.
In the book Christ Object Lessons page 114, we read,
No one can search the Scriptures in the spirit of Christ without being rewarded.
Jesus shared this truth to those seeking eternal life when He said in John 5:39,
You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
He was telling us that if you are going to search the Bible looking for life, you will find Jesus. You will find the greatest reward ever. You will find the power of Christ in your life.
This week find your reward.
If you haven’t read the Bible for some time, pick it up and start reading. You will be rewarded. If you read regularly, pause, be thankful, and bask in the reward of having Jesus in your life. May those thoughts of reward be ever present in your mind.