I have been thinking about rewards, specifically how are they different from awards and how they are viewed in scripture.

Perhaps they are on my mind as I clean out the awards for my mom and dad. Placards, engraved plates, keys, or crystal paperweights, go into a box no longer proudly displayed.

I consider this as we are meditating in church on Matthew 5:1-12; Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount.

He says in response to persecution to rejoice for great is your reward in heaven. What would that reward be like?

Is it to sit at a special spot, or wear a special crown, or get a bigger mansion, or preside over something amazing?  None of this resonates with me as appealing or even very Christ-like.

I ask God about this and I get a vision of the reward being people- people you dearly desire to be with you in heaven with joy for all eternity. How much greater than some kind of award or reward of some kind of higher or more righteous distinction from someone else.

More love to share, more joy by having these beloved people saved, redeemed, brothers and sisters forever together.

I think of this as I pack up the box that is headed for donations.  I know Mom and Dad care not an iota for these trinkets but they care deeply for each person they loved and prayed earnestly for each day. They love(d) people and I know that seeing these with God forever would be their greatest reward.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matthew 5:11-12

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