Reward for our labour (Part I)
Posted By admin1 on December 24, 2008
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12).
The word labour tells us that there is something to be done. With labour there are results or reward. Labour came as a direct result of sin. Man started experiencing harvest of crops as reward for tilling the ground. Also man started experiencing death as the reward for sin, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
“Behold” the text warns us. Behold is a warning to watch out. To watch out for the kind of labour we do as it will determine the kind of reward we will receive when Christ comes. The message of this text addresses our spiritual labour. As we are even told that “religion is a duty”. It is a duty to be done. This points to the labour we need to do for the saving of our souls. To this end Paul writes “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). So salvation has to be earned too. One has to work for it to receive it.
Therefore Jesus warned us about the quality of our labour saying: labour not for that meat which perisheth, but rather to labour for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life (St. John 6:27).
There is spiritual labour whose reward though not immediate but is everlasting. And there is natural labour whose reward though immediate but temporal.That spiritual labour contains both good and evil. And our labour, whether good or evil will determine the reward we will receive from Christ when he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation (Hebrews 9:28).
A lot of times, we concentrate on the immediate which are temporal, and forget those things which are above, where Christ sitteth (Colosians 3:1). And those things are eternal. We have to learn that immediate does not necessarily mean important. Shadrack, Meshech and Abednego risked the immediate need to save this present life. They understood that either way, death cannot be avoided. They could either save themselves now and die later, or they could die now for the Lord and live eternally.
Somethings can be urgent without being important. Our basic needs often need to be met immediately. And this fact often deceives us and leads us to provide for this temporal life at the expense of eternal life. Though urgent and important now, our flesh and its needs “cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven” (I Corinthians 15:50).
As we grow in the Lord, we have to learn to choose to deny the flesh in order to gain eternal life. Doing so, is choosing that labour and that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. All that man does in this body whether good or evil, there is a reward. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiates 12:14).
Who do you labour for? does your labour concentrate on the present at the expense of eternal ? As we live, let us remember, whatever choice we make, there is a reward. “For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands:” (Psalms 128:2). “Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening (Psalms 104:23). We are at labour all our lives. Whilst labouring for the Lord, because the reward is not immediate, let us pray for strength to hold on and not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).
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Hi there, Thanks for your post.