Respect The Stickers

"Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.” (Heb 11:26 AV)

 

That phrase, recompence of the reward or recompence of reward occurs three times in the book of Hebrews.  In fact, this phrase only appears in Hebrews.  The first occasion in a negative one and is found in chapter two.  The second appears in chapter ten and was in our verse for yesterday’s entry.  Now, here it is again.  When the LORD reveals a pattern, the student of the word of God would be wise to sit up and take notice.  In chapter ten and chapter eleven, the connotation is a good won.  The recompence of reward is a just and great blessing for doing something right.  In chapter ten, the context is staying steadfast and not casting away one’s confidence.  Here, the word of God is speaking of Moses who endured much because he esteemed reproach for doing right to be far more valuable than the temporal riches of Egypt.  With this reproach came an understanding of future rewards.  Therefore, the reproach, or hardship, and future reward are seen as one and the same.  What struck me is one little word.  Respect.  We use this word to mean esteem highly.  We value what we respect.  We put it in a place of honor.  The Greek word means to be attentive to it above all others; to gaze upon it attentively.  The opposite would be to devalue it.  Or at best, to assume it to be no different than anything else.

Back in the day, there were several reward programs launched by different companies as a way to lure people into continued patronage.  Participating gas stations gave away green stamps and once saved, they could be redeemed for goods.  Some still use this technique.  Mallow Cups still prints numbers on the inside of their candy wrappers and if one saves up enough, they also can be redeemed.  Mcdonald's used to have the monopoly game.  You would get peel-off stickers on your products and collect them for prizes.  Just yesterday, I was giving my wife a hard time about Khols bucks.  For every dollar amount you spend, they give you Khols cash which you can use on your next purchase.  It creates a revolving door of steady patronage.  Who wants to give up cash?  The thing is, for these programs to work, the participant must have an eye for the future and save up these little rewards for a bigger one.  Going back to the Khols cash, I bought a fan for the bedroom and got some Khols cash.  I handed it to my wife and she placed it down.  The next time we headed off to Khols, thinking we had this Khols cash, it was nowhere to be found.  It probably got thrown out.  It looked just like junk mail and was probably in the same pile to be sorted later, but ended up in the trash.  Why?  There was no respect for the recompense of reward.  There wasn’t an eye that placed value on something of future use.  It was set aside thinking we might get to it when we needed it.  But it was lost.

This passage got me thinking.  I wonder how much of God’s blessings we throw away because we don’t deem the effort to gain it worth the trouble.  How many blessings have we wasted because we thought the means to attaining them were too hard?  How many souls ended up in the wrong hands because we did not take the effort to chase them down or go out of our way to meet with them?  How much of the recompence of reward have we dissed because we simply didn’t think obedience of faith was worth it?  How many opportunities have we let slip by because the reproach was too difficult or the demands on our time were too great?  I wonder how many warehouses full of green stamp merchandise went to waste because all across America, there were junk drawers full of green stamp books that sat unredeemed.  How many mallow cup star point find their way into to trash because it just isn’t worth the effort?  God has blessings for those who will trust Him and make the effort to serve Him.  On the face of it, it may seem like we are getting small returns on our investment.   But if one soul comes to Christ because of our efforts, he or she may bring more.  There is a warehouse of God’s blessings out there for the diligent servant of God to enjoy.  All we need to do is have respect unto the recompence of the reward.