| Brothers and Sisters, (Revelation 22:12) And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I truly believe in my heart of hearts that our Lord will be returning soon and when He does it will happen very quickly. So quickly as a matter of fact, that there will be no time to make things right when He gets here. The Bible describes his return as taking place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. In our text verse out of Revelation 22, which by the way is the last chapter in the Bible, Jesus is giving each of us one final warning to be prepared for His eminent return. Not only did He say that He would come quickly, but He tells us that His reward is with Him to give to every man according to his works. That is a sobering thought don’t you think. How many of us really consider this as we go through our daily lives? I would dare say that any of us put as much thought into this as we should. Since Jesus is bringing our rewards with Him at His return, wouldn’t it be wise for each of us to consider what we are spending all of our time and efforts on to accomplish in this life? The Bible tells us that we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. At this judgment, our works will be separated into 2 categories (gold, silver & precious stones or wood, hay & stubble). We also see that every man’s works will be tried by fire to determine what sort it is (whether it be good or bad). (1 Corinthians 3:12-13) Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. As we read a little further, we see that when our works have been revealed by fire at the judgment, we will either receive a reward according as our work shall be or we will suffer loss of reward. (1 Corinthians 3:14-15) If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Down through the years I’ve heard some people say that this will be OK if they don’t receive a reward just as long as they make it to heaven. It’s as if all they care about is sliding into home by the skin of their teeth. Let me say if that is your attitude then I don’t have any confidence in your salvation and neither should you. Anyone who has received a pardon for their sin should have a desire to work and see others come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we stand before the Lord in judgment, this will be all that matters. What have you and I done to advance the Kingdom’s work? So, let’s make this our daily effort to work until Jesus returns. Jesus said for us to (Luke 19:13) …Occupy till I come. This parable of the talents in Luke 19 illustrates to us the importance of working for the Master until He comes back because when He returns, He will be asking us what we did with the talents He gave to each of us. The best investment we can make with our talents is to invest them in the work of the Kingdom, so that the Master will be pleased with us when He returns.
Bro. Rick | |
