Who is your rewarder?

He is the rewarder Hebrews 11:6

This week as I went for a walk this phrase came to mind and I meditated on it. We live too much of life thinking that someone other than God is our rewarder. A coach, a child, a peer group, a fund manager, a landlord, a teacher, a boss, or a company. Who is your rewarder? Who dangles the carrots that drive your donkey forward? You may be an independent sort that says, “I make my own goals; no one tells me what to do.” Good—but when you do what you do, whose eye is upon you? Is it the approving eye of man, or the singular eye of your true Rewarder?

Imagine a week in your life lived fully cognisant of the truth that God is the only rewarder that matters. No stuffing in of meetings that don’t matter, except that Thus-and-so will be there. No time spent on activities that posture but do not produce. No browsing through magazines or websites or TV channels to gain a temporary reward.

In some ways God rewards everyone. We will all be judged for our works. But he positively rewards those “who diligently seek him.” Each of us has things that get in the way of us seeking out, not answers or things from God, but God himself. We live in a temporal, physical world. Other people, projects, tasks, things… these can help us look to the Rewarder, but often just distract us. If you are truly after God, your cell phone or PDA is a more likely distraction than some grievous sin, you would rather others didn’t know about.

Lack of faith can be the ultimate source of distraction. Let’s face it; our activity can easily be “just in case God doesn’t come through” busyness. 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

Reflections

• Are you doing things because you trust God, or as a contingency in case he doesn’t come through?
  
  
  
• When you reflect on the motivation for your activity, which rewarder(s) drive your doing?