30. Reward
Matthew 10:41, 42
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward.
There are rewards in heaven. There are also rewards on earth, but earthly rewards are consequences of behavior since every word and deed has consequences. Heavenly rewards, however, are not consequences but rewards for good works done on earth; these rewards are way above and beyond the deed and are so out of line that there will not seem to be any correlation between the deed and reward. This “momentary light affliction is preparing an eternal weight of glory.” Eternal life in the new heaven and new earth is lived on such a higher plane than on this earth that the same earthly joys become unfamiliar. We shall be enjoying heavenly rewards for eternity, but we will not make the connection between a good work and its reward; it will just be life, absolutely wonderful life.
We cannot now, and we will not later, make the connections. It is enough to believe the Word and know that every good work done out of faith has a reward. We do not and we cannot pay attention to the rewards; we just know they are coming. And we are definitely not counting; we never do a good work to earn a reward (or it would not be a good work). These rewards are rewards of grace; they are not based on merit, for we have no merit of our own; we are only recipients of grace. A true good work is something that is said or done by the Holy Spirit through us, although it feels to us like we are doing the thinking, deciding, choosing and then saying and doing something good. We know that we cannot take any credit or earn any merit by a good deed done, because it is God who does it; thus it is grace. But here’s the kicker: we get the reward for the good work done even though we don’t get credit for doing it. Is that grace, or what?
God keeps track and records every good word and deed that He does through us, and He is storing up rewards in heaven to make our life with God fantastic. There are rewards for prophets and rewards for righteous men and even for those who receive them. A prophet is one who proclaims the words of God. A righteous man is one who often, of course not always, does the right thing for the right reason with the right motivation.
Jesus chooses a very simple example to show that every hospitable and kind act has a reward attached to it, even giving a cup of cold water. This example makes it clear that no act of kindness goes unnoticed and the rewards are prepared and kept for us in heaven. Think of it: after a long life lived in the kingdom the eternal rewards are truly numerous. This kind of promise lets us know that a small act of kindness is eternally worth it; and even if we do not see it we believe it. We do not need to know that there are rewards in order to be motivated to do good things, since it happens naturally; but it is nice to reflect on the truth that God is good and He has created good works for us to walk in; and each of those works that He does in us has a reward, and it will not be lost. It will be worth it all!