Why should we strive for reward more than the men in Paul's analogy did?
Believers should strive for reward because their prize is eternal in the heavens, unlike the perishable wreath in Paul's analogy. Those men competed for a crown that would dry up and be fit for fire, receiving little reward; Christians pursue something that will not shrivel up and die.
Les explains that the men in Paul's analogy strove to win only a silly wreath, which would be all dried up and fit for the fire before they even got home. They did all of that for about all the reward they got, and they did not get gold. Paul's point is that if those men did so much just for a perishable wreath, how much more should believers strive for reward, because they have something that is not going to shrivel up and die but is eternal in the heavens.