Last night we had the closing "awards night" for the Trek and Journey programs, and I spoke on 2 Timothy 4:8:

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing."

My message was about awards and rewards - are we seeking our reward in this life, or are we looking for that everlasting crown of righteousness?

In my message, I read a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, written in 1818, a truly profound and haunting work that says more in a few short lines than an essay ever could:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

"Nothing beside remains." But as God's people, we can say with Paul, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." That's the beauty of the gospel message!