The rewards that we are going to get from Jesus are not going to be based on all your hard worldly work. Your 401k is not a gage on your heavenly retirement. The employee of the month plaques for a job well done at the work place are staying behind.
1 Corinthians 3:9-15- 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
The foundation is Jesus.
Throughout we read of the parables Jesus taught.
Parable of the Sower – The first too examples either don’t understand or quickly fall away. The other two read like this.
Matthew 13:22-23 – 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
In rewards talk I see this parable in our world today. I see missionaries and pastors out there giving up their lives for the love of the Father and wanting to have others come to know the Lord. They are trying to produce a crop. I see many others trying to produce a worldly kingdom. Those things usually take our focus off God.
We also see it in the parables of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and Ten Minas (Luke 19:11-27). In both cases they were entrusted with a certain amount and the ones who produced were rewarded with much more. Both times the one that wasn’t entrusted with much at all and didn’t produce was casted out and it was taken away from him.
We need to serve the King. The devil is the one whispering in your ear to serve yourself. He is a thief, liar, and murderer.
Do you want the most sure fire way to hear God’s voice? It’s in His Word. You can read and hear it as much as you like.
Your reward is based on your work, just not the work your doing for yourself or the world. It’s based on what you’re doing for the Kingdom. How much you love the Lord. Are prayer warrior? That’s working for the Kingdom. Are you doing things for people in His name?
No one gets paid to milk the cow if he is a computer programmer. Another doesn’t get paid for picking up rocks out in a field if he is a waiter. You get rewarded when you accomplish work in the right area. The Lord wants to reward us all. Pray and seek what it is He wants you do and start today. Your loving work for the Lord will only draw you closer to Him.