“Welcome to Dick’s Sporting Goods, do you have a rewards card with us?”

My time working at the cash register in high school could easily be split into two categories: Before and After bonuses were introduced to cashiers as incentive for converting customers into members.

Before: I was simply taking advantage of a workplace that offered a basketball hoop right next to my “office.”

After: If a customer was not a rewards member when stocking up on sports gear, I was going to do everything in my power to change that. I was taking shorter lunches. I was willing to stay late. My shifts were spent competing with other cashiers to lure unsuspecting customers into my line to lay out every sales pitch I could muster.

My intentionality had increased. My focus was elevated. I was motivated by the correlation between my effort and the reward bonus that would follow.

Being motivated by incentives is wired into our DNA. After writing about the metrics used for measuring size, status, or success, I felt like something was missing. I know that how we tend to measure our successes by the worlds’ standards is ultimately irrelevant.

However…

In what context can my efforts be recognized? Is this desire even healthy to begin with?

I find nothing is more helpful in directing my perspective than looking through the lens with heaven in mind. It makes the hardest days full of pain, frustration, and fatigue seem bearable and it is a reminder that the best days full of laughter, fulfillment, and fun are only a taste of what is to come.

Jesus had a masterful way of pulling back the curtain only a little bit, so as to leave us both intrigued and in suspense about the world that awaits. Lately, what has gripped my attention are his words on heavenly treasures and how we should approach acquiring them.

Faith in Him alone assures salvation– which is in no way a reward for our works, but a gift given freely. A gift that opens the door to eligibility for rewards where further differentiations are made.

What could this look like? The Bible gives us a peek into what this may entail with the doling out of various crowns, leadership positions, and rich inheritances.

At first, I was hesitant to admit it but a part of me started to think, I want some of those!

Is this mindset wrong?

Jesus doesn’t seem to think so. He explicitly directs us to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” He does not shy away from informing us that there are rewards in heaven that are tied directly to our intentionality on earth.

Here are six reasons why this is the best rewards program ever invented:

1. It’s very specific: Jesus lays out a variety of specific ways to add to our heavenly rewards. Feed the hungry. Visit the prisoner. Endure persecution. Give generously. Pray for your enemies. Fast discreetly…Just to name a few.

2. Yet, it’s also mysterious: What exactly is this “treasure?” If there are different levels of rewards, how does envy not come into play in a sinless environment? I have no idea, but it will undoubtably outshine any treasure we could ever possess on earth.

3. Proactively participating is for our good: It may stretch us. It may be challenging. But the development of characteristics necessary to obtain these rewards will ultimately grow us in strength. Courage. Faith. Perseverance. Generosity. The list goes on.

4. It reveals God’s heart: Do you struggle with thinking of God as angry, vengeful, or distant? Lavishing eternal abundant gifts on his kids to enjoy in his kingdom certainly suggests otherwise.

5. The supply is endless: I love competition, but this doesn’t need to be one. We can spur one another on to partake in God’s infinite supply.

6. It will last forever: The movie “The Ultimate Gift” brings to the screen a heated family debate over who gets what when a beloved family member passes away. Finite resources that will eventually deplete can do that. But God promises something much better: “We have an inheritance that does not spoil or fade.”

In some of his final words recorded in Revelation, Jesus reveals “I am coming soon. My reward is with me and I will give to each person according to what they have done.”

The clock is ticking on this one-time offer we cannot afford to pass up.

Will we have made the most of the time?

What about you? Are you motivated by rewards?

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Here are two books I’ve been reading on this topic lately:
– Money Possessions and Eternity
– The Law of Rewards: Giving away what you can’t keep to gain what you can’t lose

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