Rewards

Do you like rewards? Do you participate in shopping rewards programs? Do you have a credit card that gives you rewards for using it? If you had a choice, what types of rewards would you choose? Do you know God provides rewards for those who do his will?

Most of us like rewards. Many of us have credit cards that provide rewards. Some of us participate in shopping rewards programs. We like our rewards. We use them in many different ways. Sometimes they pay off in a big way.

I have a rewards Visa card. As I make purchases with it, I receive points that can be used to purchase numerous things. We used those rewards to buy plane tickets for our family to take a vacation in California back in 2019. By using the points, it only cost us fifty dollars to purchase five round-trip plane tickets to Los Angeles. I was very thankful for those points.

Jesus tells us there are rewards, not just in eternity, but in this life when we do as God leads us to do. When He talks about welcoming, He is not merely speaking of saying “Hello.” He is talking about hospitality. A prophet is what we might call a preacher today. A righteous person is not some high-ranking Christian but simply someone who is doing their best to follow Jesus. A little one is anyone who has accepted Jesus as their Savior. In other words, Jesus is talking about welcoming our brothers and sisters in Christ.

A cup of cold water would have been very welcome in the heat of the summer in Israel. It also was not common. Think about it. There were no freezers or refrigerators. Ice had to be hauled from northern mountains, which was expensive. So, this means that our welcoming of one another should be unexpected, something a little out of the ordinary. All of this should be done out of the love we have for God and our brothers and sisters.

I pray we all seek the right rewards for the right reasons. I pray we seek to do what God desires us to do. I pray each one of us will welcome one another in unexpected ways. Seek to do God’s will. Seek God’s rewards. Welcome one another in love. Welcome one another unexpectedly.

Matthew 10:41-42 “Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”