I’ve been reading a lot about God’s rewards today. Rewards are not something we talk much about in the Baptist church. We are very careful about not preaching ‘prosperity gospel’ – (‘See my nice car? You want one like this? Accept Jesus into your heart and nothing bad will ever happen to you again...oh and he’ll bless you with nice cars one too!’)
We're not expecting nothing bad to ever happen to us again, OR to get fancy new cars ad infinitum. Or even pushbikes for that matter. I remember praying for a new bike as a child - not that I needed one, I was just trying it out. It was NOT forthcoming. But the things is, Jesus DID talk about rewards. This is just one example from Matthew 10. Jesus says to his disciples:
40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
What about these 4 that came in the UCB word for the day?
'...He shall reward every man according to his works' (Matthew 16:27)
'...You will have treasure in heaven...' (Matthew 19:21)
'...You will be repaid at the resurrection...' (Luke 14:14) '...Great is your reward in heaven...' (Luke 6:23) |
Jesus has cancelled out the consequences of our sins, but he hasn’t cancelled out the consequences of our righteous actions. In the next life, yes, but also in this life, the bible promises God’s blessing if we live our lives for him. Let’s have expectation of blessing, reward and goodness in our lives, not because we are good, but because God is good and he is living and working in us. |
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