My daughter has
a Panera rewards card.
This month she
got a super duper bonus reward.
She gets a free
bagel every single day of the month of March.
When she told me
this, my first thought was, They have no idea what they’ve just done.
There is a
Panera not far from her apartment.
She will collect
every single bagel coming to her.
To my daughter,
a broke college student, a bagel is gold.
It’s only March
8th and they know her already.
She walks in the
door and they ask “Hey, what kind do you want today?”
She tells them
and they hand it to her…free.
I’ll be honest,
I’m a little jealous.
I want to be
rewarded like that, I know for a fact that I’ve been a more faithful Panera
customer.
But it seems my
expenditures and my loyalty to Panera are all but forgotten, except for the
occasional dollar off of a You Pick Two…sigh…
Like Panera, God
loves to give rewards.
Unlike Panera,
God’s rewards are not random.
God rewards our
love and faithfulness to Him.
He loves to
reward us.
And, boy, do we love rewards!
God warns us in
His word, though, not to seek reward for ourselves.
“Beware of
practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them,
for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you
give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say
to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not
let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your
giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” –
Matthew 6:1-4
When we are
public with our faithfulness, the accolades we receive in real time are the
only reward we will receive.
oh wow.
The praise of
man is good, it feels good, but what am I sacrificing when I settle for that?
The bible speaks
of God’s reward as an inheritance (Colossians 3:23,24)…what no human mind has
conceived (1 Cor. 2:9)…He will lift us up (1 Pet 5:6; James 4:10)…a crown that
will last forever (1 Cor 9:25)…a good harvest (Galatians 6:9) and so, so much
more.
The praise of
man pales in comparison.
And a bagel…well,
it’s just a bagel.
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