Rewards
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August 08, 2010 |
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 "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42)
Some believers feel thankful for the grace of God from the depths of their heart, and render services and dedications to the kingdom of God and the church with their health, strength, and talents. A drop of sweat they shed in cleaning every corner of the sanctuary, a piece of kind word, bright smile, and all other dedications and services will not be forgotten but rewarded by God.
God wants to receive the incense of their hearts from all those things. With the same amount of works and time, the incense of their hearts and their heavenly rewards are different according to their faith and love. What should we do in order to make our services sweet incense to God and be paid back with perfect rewards?
First of all, we have to remember the grace of God all the time.
After many believers met the living God, their unhappy lives turned into happy ones. Some of them had to wait for death due to incurable disease, but were completely healed by meeting God. Some others fell into indescribable despair because their business went bankrupt and their families broke up, but after meeting God, their business were restored and the path to blessing was opened for them. Still others exercised violence whenever they drank and their neighbors evaded them, but by meeting God they turned into a new person.
How great the grace of God is! When they render services and dedications for the church to repay His grace, their hearts overflow in thanksgiving with the thought that they can come to the church. They find no difficulty in sweating toils, and their fervor for the Lord and their services in the midst of cold and snowy winter is much stronger than the cold itself. God is greatly delighted when their services are imbued with the fragrance of thanksgiving.
Some believers first participate in various services with fervent heart, but with the passing of time, they forget the grace of God and their fervor cools down. The works that they enjoyed without feeling burdensome turn into burden to them. If the things that they cannot understand take place, or if others do not recognized them for their hard work, they also get disappointed. So, some of them just quit the duty of the voluntary works that they had been doing for years. Or, they don't actually quit, but they have resentment in their heart, and they also have conflict with others when things do not go as they want.
God is not pleased with this kind of change in attitude but instead He wants you to always remember the grace you received and offer up to God the aroma of thanks all the time.
Secondly, you have to show the deeds of service that are pleasing to God.
The kind of deeds with which God is pleased is the deed that contains the aroma of heart. For example, when you clean the sanctuary, you wouldn't just sweep and mop as usual because it is given to you. You will sweep and mop caring for and cherishing the precious sanctuary of God the Father. Also, if you always have the grace of God in you, you will not feel uncomfortable or have resentment even though there are some difficult things. If you do your voluntary works having these thoughts, your work will not go up as beautiful aroma even though you work earnestly.
If you do not forget the thanks for the grace of God, you can always work with happiness. You can think, "I was destined to die due to sins, and how could I receive this precious duty to work for God's kingdom? I can take care of the sanctuary of my Father with my own hands, and how precious my life has become!" Thinking all these things, you will automatically begin to sing praises. Your deeds of doing the voluntary works will be your rewards, and if you touch the people with bright faces, it will also be your rewards.
Matthew 23:11 says, "But the greatest among you shall be your servant." If you consider others better than you and serve even the little ones, so you can become the great in the kingdom of heaven.
When you do your voluntary works with joy realizing the things for which you should give thanks, your deeds will be a thicker aroma and pleasing works in the sight of God.
Thirdly, you have to hope for the rewards that God will give to you with His love.
Matthew 10:42 says, "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." If you just serve somebody with only a cup of cold water, God certainly remembers it and pays it back to you. God does not want to reward you just in Heaven but also to give you blessings on this earth, including good health, financial blessings, and blessings with and through your children, or solutions of your family problems.
But the important thing is that you have to quickly accomplish sanctification for you to receive these blessings completely. The blessings for those who have reached the level of spirit and who have not will be so different. Your heavenly rewards will be different according to the extent to which you accompllish spirit. Even though you work for the same time and do the same work, the aroma of heart of each one will be offered up to God in a very different measure.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I want to urge you to offer all your dedications to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life for us and planted the hope for Heaven into our hearts. And I hope you will quickly change and have testimonies of blessings, and finally receive the greatest rewards in the best dwelling place in Heaven.
For additional information or to read the message's text in its entirety, please visit www.manmin.org on the web, select the "English" menu, and click on "Words of Life."
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