Carry On, Rewardless

How does life work?  How are we to operate in this life?

I’m preaching on Psalm 37 tomorrow, and it seems to me, like always, God is reading my heart and causing me to ‘live’ this message as much as I want to extend it out to others.

Not everyone is against us in this life,
and much of the time it’s nobody.

We might feel like there’s this person or that person who ‘exist’ to make our life tough.  We give them far too much credit.  Their reality is far more in themselves than we realise.

And then there’s the situation of ‘life’ itself making our life hard, or perhaps it’s ‘God’ or ‘the universe’, that seems hellbent on blocking our goals, making our life a misery.

How are we to reconcile all these matters,
to live peacefully and peaceably in this world?

We could simply
carry on, rewardless.

I first learned of this concept this past week.  “Carry on, rewardless” is a humorous, tongue in cheek, way of twisting “Carry on, regardless.”  I chuckled when I first heard it from one of the firefighters I have the privilege of working with.  I enjoy firey humour.

Beyond the intention of the humour (the insinuation that there isn’t ever reward), there is so much to be gained in this life, pondering and living such wisdom.

Rewardlessness is a golden and unbeatable concept.

We are held to ransom by the concept of reward.

What if we work and we miss the goal?  We work for a particular reward, and that reward eludes us.  We are left disappointed.

There is power for life beyond disappointment, to a place where we are beyond being disappointed.  Where despondency is no longer possible.  Where every sense for entitlement to happiness (striving to be happy) is relegated as an insufficient wisdom.

Or perhaps there’s the opportunity
to reframe the concept of reward.

At its most basic level, if we can imagine the concept of life itself as the only reward we’d ever want, we already HAVE our reward.  

Do you see the wisdom in being content in what we already have? 

Especially in that which cannot be taken from us.  As a Christian, nobody and nothing can take my salvation from me, and indeed we can see how, from the Christian worldview, it’s all any of us needs. 

If we can be happy without needing to be ‘rewarded’
for anything or with anything,
that right there is the wisdom that’s possible in this life.

Carrying on rewardless is an attitude carried in our heart and in the front of our mind, with joy, with hope, and with much peace.  Nothing can truly disappoint us in this mindset.