For the Joy Set Before Us
Joshua 22:7b-8
And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.”
In his must-read essay, “The Weight of Glory,” C.S. Lewis draws a helpful distinction between the pursuit of mercenary awards and the pursuit of natural rewards. For instance, the natural reward for an athlete’s labor is the joy of triumph rather than the manufactured trophy he receives. The soldier’s prize in war is victory and honor, not a medal of honor The evangelist’s prize is a converted soul, not a lucrative cross-country tour. But there are mercenaries in every field, aren’t there? Doctors who pursue surgical careers for money rather than an innate desire to heal people. Pastors who wish to get popular rather than teach the truth and lead their congregations in the way of the LORD. Elementary School teachers who teach children not out of the natural delight that comes from watching kids develop but because of the summer vacation and stable income. Political leaders who campaign not for the flourishing of working-class folk but for their own private gain. Ah, but you won’t find mercenaries here in the tribes of Reuben and Gad. Though each man walks away from his triumph draped in spoils, he isn’t spoiled by them. These aren’t the true prizes of his labor. After all, what value are worldly riches compared to a clean conscience before Almighty God?
Oh Christian, today, in whatever frontier God has placed before your feet, don’t make the mission a mercenary affair. Set your affections on the things above, on that internal and eternal weight of glory, on that treasure of a pure heart and the singular pursuit of God’s pleasure. That’s the prize that moth and rust can’t destroy. That’s the prize that thieves can’t break in and steal. That’s the prize that accusers can’t deprive you of even if you’re ostracized by a wicked culture or thrown in prison or censored or even killed. Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven as the Lord commanded. That way, if He decides to heave glittering, temporal spoils of success on your shoulders down the road, you won’t be crushed by them.