We are His reward

May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering!

 The Moravians were a non-denominational group of people who lived around 1727, give or take a few years. They aren’t as well known as they should be and if you have time to look up information on them I highly suggest it. But to get to the barest of facts, they instituted a 24/7 prayer watch that lasted over a hundred years! If that isn’t enough, they became the first to stress the spreading of the Gospel to any and all people. During that time, missions was non-existent and even forbidden in many countries. This didn’t stop the Moravians; they sold themselves into slavery on ships headed to the Indies and condemned themselves to death in leper colonies. The mark of a Moravian traveling aboard a ship was they brought all their worldly belongings in a casket.
   They never came home alive, in fact their bodies rarely came home. Why would they do this; what possessed hundreds of people to willingly go where death was certain in the rare hope that maybe a single convert would be won? It’s simple really; a single soul rescued was more than worth it. Really their reasoning can be easily summed up in their motto, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!” You might be wondering what this has to do with us today. I mean, I doubt we have to do anything as drastic as selling ourselves willingly into slavery, but I think it’s important to see where that motto came from. So I indulged in a quick history lesson.
   I was thinking about that motto earlier today and I felt God say, “Am I not still worthy to receive my reward?” Umm, ouch! Of course He is and I quickly said so. Then I began to think deeper (note to self, maybe start with the thinking before speaking), who is His reward? Well that’s easy, it’s us; Jesus suffered and died for all of us. Again, I felt God asking, “Who gets to decide who is My reward and who isn’t?” Well nobody can decide that. Then why do we so often make that decision? If I am the reward of His suffering, and so are all of you, than who am I to say or decide who isn’t? This means everyone: your weird neighbor, that punk kid who steals cars, the overworked cashier, the jerky driver on the highway; everyone is His reward. When I don’t offer Jesus to everyone, I am telling God I don’t think He is worthy of them! I almost gagged as I realized this; my heart dropped to the ground. What have I been unknowingly conveying to God?

   So often I put parameters on who I think I should God has “called” me to reach out to. Well, the parameters are quite simple: it’s everyone. God has called me and you to reach out to everyone we come in contact with. I don’t mean hand out thousands of Bible tracks or evangelize/terrify everyone you speak to. I mean see them for who they are, the reward of Christ’s suffering. Christian, Muslim, straight, gay, man, woman, good, and yes, even the heinously bad; Christ suffered and died for them and us. We don’t get to draw lines on who is and isn’t God’s reward. No one drew that line over me; how dare I ever think I can do it to someone else.