Your Reward

Scripture/Bible:  Peter began to say to him, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you." 29 Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many that are first will be last, and the last first." Mark 10:28-31

Reflection: For a minute let me put myself in God’s place and listen to human confessions; seemingly even the most sincere fails to meet the standard of sincerity.

Here we seem to have a case of Peter the Apostle who begins to tell Jesus; we have left everything and followed you. 

Peter’s statement seems to be a sincere one, he was sincere to the core and without doubt and Jesus had to believe it.  Did Jesus know what was really in his heart and how in his sincerity Peter was insincere?

If someone else were in Jesus place then they would have told him to his face, “look Peter if you have left everything then leave aside your future prospects too and don’t ask or expect or ask anything.“

And if I had dabbled in some eastern spiritualities then I would have told him; Peter you need to go beyond yourself and beyond everything, just leave your old ways of expecting anything. 

Wait a minute before you jump to conclusions; Peter was not insincere as per the norms of the Kingdom, if you have made your judgement's then know this; to seek a reward from the Lord is a legitimate demand, if there is a legitimate reason for it.  

It is an innate need in humans to work for a goal or a reward.  Let no one defraud you into believing that you should do all things without seeking a reward.

On the other hand, it would be insincere to seek a reward which does not serve the right purpose and which does not help our eternal purposes or if we are seeking it in the wrong person or place. 

But seek the higher reward which Christ Jesus came to give to his chosen and beloved ones in exchange for their faithfulness towards him or let Christ Jesus be the reward you seek; “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me. Ps 15:5 (Douay-Rheims)

Prayer: "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth." Ps 58:11

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