The rewarder of them that seek him

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Heb. 11:6

There is no such thing as a dispassionate commitment to God. If you would follow him, you must be convinced of his reality and of his relevance. Those who believe in him bank everything upon him. He is their treasure and they are willing to sell all to follow him. Like Moses, they would rather choose "to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward" (25-26).

And that is the key. Sin and a life of unbelief has its own reward. It also offers you a treasure. But it is temporary, for a season, and ends in rottenness. In contrast, "godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Tim. 4:8). The reward that God gives is eternal. The way of the world leads to death and eternal suffering; the reproach of Christ leads to life and eternal joy.

Is this reward something we earn? No. It is a gift entirely of grace received through faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8). "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life though Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). But it is a reward, let us never forget that, and it is to be infinitely more desired than the pleasures of sin for a season. As Paul will put it at the end of his life: "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing" (2 Tim. 4:8).

Let our commitment to Christ this day be fueled by our conviction that he is a treasure beyond compare.