Tag: reward

Actually Finding Life

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The majority of humans, no doubt, wish to save their lives – to hold onto what we deem so precious. Most people hope to retain their souls – to continue to enjoy that which is enjoyable. Recent research reported in Putnam & Campbell’s book, American Grace (2010), says that “Sixty percent of Americans are absolutely sure there is a heaven” (p. 7). Largely, people from all walks of life want to believe that a good life awaits us after this earthly life is finished.

Desiring to hold onto our lives is no guarantee that we will. In fact, Jesus Christ boldly declared, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25, NASB). Notice keenly Jesus’ use of the word “wishes.” People who wish to save their lives, in fact, lose them. On the other hand (and quite amazingly, I might add) people who actually lose their lives for the sake of God will actually find life!

There we have it . . . the great paradox. Attempting to grasp at life by our own methods ends in utter loss, whereas, forthrightly giving up our lives for the particular sake of God culminates in gain. Here we have spelled out before us an undeniable truth from the very mouth of the Son of God. It is a sure thing that any attempt to cling to life and any of its “treasures” is a mistake of inexplicable cost. Accordingly, it is also an indisputable thing that the sacrifice of all we hold dear for the cause of Christ results in finding life that both never ends and never lets us down.

Please allow me to expound upon the hope at the near horizon. Jesus went on to say, “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds” (Matthew 16:27, NASB). Clearly, then, Jesus will return a second time with glory as the Judge; this visitation stands in stark contrast to His first coming with humility as a Servant. No, when Jesus returns to His earth again, it will not be to offer salvation, but to enact judgment. Christ will grant to His followers great reward, and He will deliver to the rest wrath and indignation (Romans 2:8).

The decision to follow Jesus is a decision to deny self. It is a determination to count earthly desires as nothing compared to the work of building God’s kingdom. Self-indulgence comes in countless forms: buying what we do not need, gorging simply because we crave, mindlessly absorbing entertainment for hours upon end, envying what we do not own, allowing laziness a regular place, blocking from our vision the needs of others, ignoring the eternal to pursue the temporal, and . . . the list goes on ad infinitum. Self-indulgence will one day meet its bitter end: loss of soul and life. In the same way, self-denial for the sake of Jesus Christ and the fame of His name will one day meet its glorious result: eternal reward and life unending.

The determination of the judgment is not arbitrary, but precise. Jesus Christ will repay every person in exact accordance with his or her deeds. Am I saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection? Then my life – and all its content and moments – belongs to Him! My actions each and every day of living ought to emit a resounding declaration that Jesus is the reason I exist!

I know that as we await the return of Jesus, the prevalence of good and bad in human lives seems random and unfair. Hold on, for one day the Savior and Judge of the universe will repay every man according to his deeds.

Quite the Opposite of a Cop-Out

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I believe the first rule of genuine Christian leadership is a precept some may label a cop-out. God does not classify it this way; God describes this principle as truth. Here is the rule: Your reward is secure with God and will not be fully realized this side of eternity. Corollary to the rule: You will at times feel exhausted and discouraged, but these are only feelings; the truth remains unassailable.

Isaiah 49:4 proclaims, “But I said, ‘I have toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD, and My reward with My God.’” Interestingly, the prophet Isaiah has done here something for which he is known well. He is speaking generally to the people of his time, but He is also speaking specifically of the Messiah. As it is true of Jesus, so it is true of His servants. We grow weary from all the fury Hell can bring and we grow disheartened from all the loneliness of leadership and its unique responsibility. And yet again, as it is with Jesus, so it is with us. The Father promises to do right in the end. The sovereign Lord is working His plan, and He will bring the reward swiftly and surely.

Do you ever have days where the phrases “toiled in vain” and “spent My strength for nothing” seem all too familiar? If we are only focusing on what we can see with our eyeballs right now, we will no doubt feel empty at times. However, if we focus on a reward currently invisible but nonetheless tangible, we will grasp the sense of the phrase, “surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord, and My reward with My God.”

I am not sure why it is that at times even Christians give into the perception of “pie in the sky stuff” when it comes to belief in a reward in another world. I think part of the reason is a culture foolishly enamored with a definition of success realized by numbers, profit, and popularity. Standing in stark contrast to the belief of many, a reason that God says He is not ashamed of us is that we “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). Imagine – God is proud of us for desiring the reality of Heaven! This verse does not proclaim God’s pride in us for what we achieve or desire here and now, but He is proud when we desire our heavenly home and all its reward and glory.

Though all human accolade be withheld, we shall yet stand before God and be delighted by the faces of those who have been greatly or even remotely affected by our service to Jesus Christ. They heard one word we spoke, they watched one godly reaction of ours, they felt our Savior’s love through our hug, they observed a life of passion for eternal things, they benefitted from our offering to the work of God, they heard of Jesus from the friend of a friend of a friend of someone with whom we shared the gospel, or they lived out their life in close proximity to ours as we served the living God.

Though we be misunderstood, unappreciated, maligned, forgotten, or persecuted; our reward is with our God. Peter says of that inheritance, “[it is] reserved in heaven for you” (I Peter 1:4). No small matter is it that the reward is also imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away.

Discouragement cannot tarnish our reward, economic downturn cannot diminish our reward, human evil cannot debase our reward, and time cannot corrode our reward.

No human may ever fully understand what we have done, are doing, or will do. But, God knows. Our labor for Him is not in vain.

Do you want to be a leader? First and foremost, know where your reward is. The chances of survival in leadership are nil if you are counting on anything other than the living God for your strength and satisfaction.