Ten
He Rewards

Receive It

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.

1 Corinthians 2:9

Consider what rediscovering the connection between your life now and your life in eternity could mean for you. If your actions today do have the potential to radically affect your eternity, wouldn’t that dramatically change how you think about your life? How you think about God? What you choose to do one minute from now?1

Here I stand, at the edge of my promised land.

I wiggle my toes in the soft green grass and I survey the scene before me. Where once I saw thorns and thickets, new life abounds.

My once-fallow ground was hallowed ground, just like the Lord had said. And now I see a fruitful field.

I remember the season when the soil and rocks were overturned, the ground unearthed, and the weeds utterly exposed. I remember how it looked. I remember how it felt. I wondered if I’d always feel that way.

But now? This new territory is fertile, fruitful, and lush. Beautiful to the discerning eye.

I’m in awe of what God has done.

You drench the plowed ground with rain,

melting the clods and leveling the ridges.

You soften the earth with showers

and bless its abundant crops.

You crown the year with a bountiful harvest;

even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.

The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture,

and the hillsides blossom with joy.

The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep,

and the valleys are carpeted with grain.

They all shout and sing for joy!

Psalm 65:10–13

I look across the landscape and remember the times I tried to occupy this land, land that God had promised me. The enemy seemed to own it. And every time I’d try to lay hold of my promised place, he’d get loud and throw dirt in my eyes. Feisty as I am, I couldn’t seem to win against him. Time and time again I’d retreat within the boundaries of my known zone, frustrated that I could not seem to win the fear-worry-sickness battle. Sometimes I’d gain inches but never the land.

But then the storm hit. The winds howled. The elements raged. And the enemy spewed his threats with increased fervency. He had me in his crosshairs. He seemed to have a renewed resolve to take me out.

I felt sure that this storm would be the end of me.

One day while hiding in my own cave of self-protection, I remembered reading in the Old Testament about how Saul and David were at odds. Okay, maybe that’s an understatement. Saul actually wanted to kill David because he was jealous of and threatened by him.

Saul seemed to have the advantage because of his position and possessions, yet it was David who grew stronger in battle. Saul grew weaker over time. David gained strength in the fight because God was with him.

I knew I was on the winning side. I learned that the enemy doesn’t have endless strength. I learned that worship on the battlefield is really the most powerful form of spiritual warfare. I realized that my heart for Jesus and His heart for me would be the devil’s undoing.

Like David, my enemy was jealous of me. I threatened him. Why? I have the Spirit of the living God mightily at work within me. I am the object of the Father’s love. I have the armies of heaven cheering me on. There’s absolutely nothing the enemy can do to take away my firm place in the Father’s heart or to diminish my firm standing in His kingdom.

The devil can stir up trouble, he can stir up my fears, but he can’t touch my soul. He can’t ruin my future.

So this time, amidst this storm, Jesus urged me onward. This time I was ready to face my fears and take my land. This time was my time. And this land was mine.

A little while, and the wicked will be no more;

though you look for them, they will not be found.

But the meek will inherit the land

and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Psalm 37:10–11 NIV

I stand on the edges of this land and marvel. I’m not who I was before this storm. I don’t have the fear I once had. I don’t catastrophize when symptoms flare or when the ground shakes. I know—on a deeper level—what’s true about God.

I’m healthier than I once was. I have more clarity now than I did before. And I’m wiser to the enemy’s schemes.

For me to steward the territory before me, I needed to up my game. It didn’t matter if others seemed to get away with looser boundaries. God’s invitation to me is unique to me, just as your call and your journey of obedience will be quite unique to you.

Jesus was calling me upward and onward, and I intended to follow Him. I was determined to stay on His heels.

Over the years I’d worked hard on renewing my mind, but I had no idea how much I needed to grow in this area. I thought I knew how to worship in battle, feast on the battlefield, and pray like my life depended upon it, but I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

I thought I ate healthy foods, but I learned that in order to fight my particular health battle, but I needed to eat even healthier foods. I figured I’d always be someone who would struggle with insomnia. But I decided to go after it because sleep is critical to good health, mind, body, and spirit. And besides, God grants sleep to those He loves.2 I know He loves me. Now I not only sleep at night, I dream. Imagine.

With God’s grace I confronted one self-limiting belief after another. I broke through an invisible barrier that I had accepted for far too long. Once God upgraded my vision for what was possible in Him, I took the next steps He put in front of me.

The physical and emotional adjustments and tweaks I’ve made over the past two years required focus, discipline, and persistence. But now they’re paying me back in dividends. But there’s more to this land than meets the eye.

Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.

1 Timothy 4:8

Our battles give us an opportunity for faith. And our faith has eternal consequences. What we possess of God’s kingdom here determines how we live in His kingdom there, in eternity with Him. For now, we have to contend for some of the things God has promised us. Yet there’s a treasure hidden within every trial.

The land before us is a good land. There’ll be giants to conquer, battles to face, and maturity to gain, but we have what we need to make the journey and take the territory before us.

God rewards our faith. He responds to our diligence. He makes note of our faithfulness. Yes, we’re saved by grace. Yes, we’re loved simply because He is love. But He rewards those who seek after Him. He honors those who obey Him.

I felt sure that God would rescue me from my storm sooner than He did, but I now see how perseverance has had a profound, maturing effect on me. Though I was after relief, God wanted me to have a reward for my faith. Though I longed for a break, He wanted me to have a breakthrough. Though my gaze often drifted toward my problems, God was training me to think of eternity.

Think Eternity

A. W. Tozer once penned this now-famous phrase: “What comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.”

To the degree that we understand God’s character, His goodness, and His strength, we will rightly interpret our battles, our blessings, and His purpose for our lives.

If we believe that life is short and eternity is long and that God is good even though life is hard, we’ll learn the value of perseverance and the power of God’s promises. They’re there because we need them. Those promises are ours!

If we believe that we’re on this troubled earth for a short season and for a very distinct purpose, we’ll see the wisdom of developing a steadfast heart. We’ll want to mature. We’ll value the fruitful life.

With God’s goodness before us, we can live with our eyes on a reality that we can’t yet see. We know it’ll be worth it in the end. We’ll live like we’re made for another world because we really, truly are.

Since life on earth is short and eternity is long, let’s spend some time pondering how this life affects the next.

Here’s my paraphrase of what Chip Ingram shared one day on my radio show: “Heaven isn’t a concept; it’s a place with streets, buildings, sights, sounds, and colors. The minute the Christ-follower dies, he or she is ushered to heaven—absent from the body, present with the Lord. That dearly departed saint will be conscious, have feelings, and recognize loved ones and other believers who’ve gone before them.” Imagine.

We will give physical hugs. We’ll belly laugh. We’ll sing new songs. Enjoy new creations. We’ll feast with other believers. We’ll share stories and learn more of God’s faithfulness—what He provided and what He prevented. We’ll forever enjoy the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth. This sounds nothing like the never-ending, boring church service that so many imagine heaven will be.

Bestselling author and pastor John Burke has joined me on my radio show several times, and he has shared that heaven will be a sensory explosion. We’ll see, hear, taste, touch, and smell wonders like we’ve never known before. Whatever delectable food we’ve tasted on earth is just a foretaste of things to come. The sights, scents, and glimpses of God’s creation here on earth—the things that take our breath away—they’re just a glimmer of what’s to come. He asked, “Do you think God saved His best work for earth?” He continued, “Most Christians know so little about heaven that they’re more excited about retirement than they are about eternity.”

He went on to say that “Earth is a compressed time capsule: tastes of heaven and tastes of hell mixed together. But one day, these two will separate.” For the Christian, this means that what we’ve tasted of God’s goodness will suddenly abound, flourish, and multiply. Many times over. We’ll be absolutely surrounded by His goodness. We’ll marvel at His attention to detail. We’ll be undone by His very personal attention to our story.

And that’s not all. What we’ve endured at the hands of the enemy during our time on earth will be wiped away, never to negatively impact us again. Every hurt healed. Every loss restored. Every lie swallowed up in truth. Never again will we be in the devil’s crosshairs. Justice will be served, and he’ll get what’s coming to him.

Imagine eternity with Jesus, an explosion of God’s goodness with no downside. No more tears, no more hurt, no more pain. Oh, the stories we will share with each other in heaven about how Jesus led us each safely home.

Anticipation Is Healthy and Essential

Did you know that anticipation is important for your soul, your brain, and your overall health? Think about how good it feels to look forward to vacations, holidays, and special outings. We anticipate, prepare, and prioritize as we look ahead to our special day. Sometimes the excitement we feel prior to the event exceeds the actual experience, but the anticipation is still remarkably healthy.

Research has shown that anticipation is such a strong feeling, people are happier in the anticipation of a holiday than in remembering the actual experience. It is anticipation that is generating this happiness, this improved feeling of well-being. . . .

The anticipation of failure when we have placed such great importance on something—like a perfect holiday turning out to be a worst nightmare—can overwhelm the positive impact it may have. But by developing the anticipatory experiences—the planning, knowing where we will eat, how we will travel, the history of the place we will visit—then we can counter any of these concerns. . . .

Give yourself things to look forward to and the world will seem a brighter place.3

What if you decided to look forward to your next breakthrough? What if you looked to Jesus with anticipation, wholeheartedly believing that right this very moment He is up to something good for you? And what if you—even more earnestly—developed a holy anticipation for where and how you’ll spend millions and millions of years in the presence of God, apart from the enemy, without pain and suffering. Can you picture it? Know this: Creation eagerly waits for that day when God recognizes you for who you really are—His beloved heir. Let’s read what Scripture says:

For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

Romans 8:19

The extended quote above connects anticipation to feelings of well-being. But here’s an important point: When we look forward with anticipation, our brain releases feel-good hormones, which physiologically helps to reinforce good behavior. Once again, science is gradually catching up with Scripture. Consider that as we look forward to eternity with Jesus, as we joyfully anticipate His return, our whole self—mind, body, and spirit—will be fully alive, fully engaged in preparation for that great day. And even our own physiology will support God’s desire for us to live ready.

The Life to Come

Life on earth is as bad as it gets for those of us who trust and follow Christ. Every tear, Jesus collects. Every act of obedience, every generous gift, every heartfelt sacrifice, every passionate prayer prayed in the privacy of your heart, God has been there. He’s made note of it. Jesus will one day surprise you with His goodness and His meticulous attention to detail.

There’s not a moment of your life that has escaped His notice. That time you sobbed on your bathroom floor? He was there with you. And when you got up, washed your face, and headed out the door to face your day? That’s called perseverance, and He rewards such things.

When I decided to learn more about heaven, rewards, and God’s desire for faithful stewardship, I was surprised to hear a number of Christians say things like, “Oh, I don’t bother myself with thoughts on rewards. Jesus is enough.” Or, “I’m not going to make it about what I receive. That sounds like the prosperity gospel.” Or, “I don’t think there’s anything to that whole rewards things. Heaven with Jesus will be enough.”

Jesus is more than enough and would be more than enough if our inheritance stopped right there. And yet, by His sacrifice and victory on the cross, Jesus more than saved us; He made us joint heirs with Him.4

Follow Him through the Gospels and you’ll see Him talk about stewardship, multiplication, and rewards. We’ve become heirs of a kingdom not just in status but also for a purpose. There are realities of the kingdom that God wants us to appropriate, walk in, and steward for the greater good of the story He’s writing on the earth today, which will profoundly affect His eternal kingdom (who’s there, how we live, etc.).

If these things matter enough to Jesus to talk about, they need to matter enough for us to learn about. Read these very specific words to us:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19–21 NKJV (emphasis mine)

If Scripture speaks repeatedly of rewards, don’t you think it’s worth a deeper look? And if Jesus Himself said, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” doesn’t that imply some kind of action on our part? And if He said it, doesn’t that make it important to us?

Picture this scenario with me, if you will. A young family decides to move to the inner city to make a difference among those in need. Mom asks the two sons to join her for a walk to see if they can meet some of the neighbors. The younger son says, “Hey, Mom! How about if we bake some bread and give fresh loaves to the neighbors we meet?” Mom thinks that’s a great idea. Meanwhile, she notices her older son camped in front of the TV, not moving. She asks him to get up and get moving. He just looks over his shoulder and sweetly says, “Aw, Mom. No thanks. It’s enough just to be in your family.”

Jesus is enough. He didn’t save us to slave us. He saved us because He loves us. And because we love Him, we learn what He cares about and we live accordingly.

We’re saved by grace, but we’re rewarded for our stewardship.

Why does it matter that we live the kind of life that God rewards? Because what God rewards reveals what’s especially close to His heart (which to me also reflects His unfathomable character and goodness).

God loves it when we

When we live like the kingdom people we were always meant to be, when we tend to matters close to God’s heart, He rewards us both in this life and the next. Why? Because our lives shout to a world in need, THIS! This is what God is like!

God so loves the world that He wants us, as His representatives, to reflect His heart to those who would love and trust Him if they knew Him.

The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

2 Peter 3:9

An Upside-Down Kingdom

There’s a very important day ahead of us. And based on Scripture, some Christians will suffer great loss when they appear before the judgment seat of Christ.16 Their life’s work will be placed upon the altar. Their ambitions, self-promotions, their prideful posturing, and their pretend praying. And it will all burn up. Scripture says they will be like someone barely escaping the flames. Saved, but with nothing to show for it. Imagine.

This makes my knees quake. Especially in a culture that celebrates celebrity Christianity. We aspire to it. Reward it. Are jealous of it. And all the while, much of the kingdom thrives in the nooks and crannies of life, out of the public eye.

How much angst have we allowed in our souls because our perspective of God’s kingdom mirrored that of our high school experience? You’ve got the few privileged popular peeps, and the rest just sit around and wish they were somebody else.

But what if we recaptured a fresh picture of what Christ values? What if we had a stronger sense of what He rewards? What if we really started to believe that this coming kingdom has nothing to do with numbers or celebrity and everything to do with faith, hope, and love?

What if we broke free from posturing for popularity and instead learned to love our actual lives and decided to live them well?

I’ll tell you what would happen. We’d start to know a joy and contentment we never thought possible. We’d see the value of extended time around our tables. Our neighbors might witness us as peaceful and not in a hurry. I think we’d give more funds to missions and probably be more kind to and grateful for our pastors.

I think we’d find it our great honor to visit the shut-in and the prisoner, to help the single parent and the elderly neighbor. And I think we’d feel such a sacredness in our service that we’d be tempted to look around for angels in our midst. I think we’d pause a little longer when we pray for our food, or when we notice a sunset, or after someone shares her heart. I’m pretty sure we’d start to take ourselves less seriously and God much more seriously.

We’d start to see the value of an offering given in faith. We’d quit comparing ourselves to others because we finally know that no one can fill the space that God has assigned to us. We’d pray for the popular, but pity them too, because they have their own crosses to bear.

I think that once we got ahold of God’s heart for this world, and we saw how excited He is to reward our faith-steps, we’d want to live our whole lives in faith. We’d make risk-taking a normal part of life. We’d give in ways that make us blush because we now know there’s no out-giving God. I think we’d become audacious, inside and out. And amazingly, I think we’d be content to be misunderstood because we’d finally know and believe that man’s opinion changes like the weather, and we’re made for better things.

Since such a great cloud of witness surrounds us, I pray we will throw off everything that hinders and slows us down and the sin that continually trips us up so we can run the race God has set before us. Jesus did. He paved the way. Now we follow in His footsteps. He is with us. He is for us. And He moves on every act prompted by our faith. Our faith is priceless to Him.

Yes, we have a target on our back. Yes, the enemy has our number. Yes, he knows what schemes have worked on us in the past. But what he doesn’t know is that we’re different now. God is healing us from the inside out. What worked on us before won’t work next time. We know how to fight now. We know how to stand. We know what faith does for our heart. God is shoring us up.

We’re getting wise to the enemy’s schemes. We’re quicker to discern a lie. We won’t put up with the absence of peace. And we’re done messing around with thoughts of insecurity and inferiority. We’re learning to live with eternity in mind. We know that our offerings to God are absolutely secure with Him. Nobody can touch one iota of what we’ve entrusted to Jesus.

So yes, the enemy is after us, but far more important to us is that God is for us. Nothing can separate us from His love. He’s the one who is able to keep us from falling, to present us before His glorious presence—without fault, and with great joy.

He’s gone ahead to prepare a place for us. He says that our finite minds cannot begin to grasp all He has prepared for those of us who belong to Him.

Soon and very soon, Jesus is coming again for us. Scripture says that all of creation groans for that day when God reveals who His children really are. So we live like the kingdom people we are. Bold. Faith-filled. Audacious. And true. Jesus is coming, and He wants to reward us for the life we lived on earth.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

Romans 8:18–19

And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

2 Peter 3:14

To live with eternity in mind means that we can find redemptive value in every step we take. We won’t get everything we want when we want it down here, but we won’t know what to do with all God is, all He’s preparing for us when life on earth is through.

In his stunning book All Things New, John Eldredge asks this question:

What would you love your reception into the kingdom to be? You should put some words to that, given how important it is. A friend of mine who has labored long in the Great War with evil shared his vision with me in a moment of tender vulnerability:

“I want to finish well. I want to return as a hero, a warrior worthy of the kingdom. I had this vision—I don’t know if it was an actual vision or just my heart’s expression. I saw myself, sword at my side, shield slung over my back, making my way up the main street of the City. I wore the battle gear of war, soiled by long years at the front. People lined both sides of the street to welcome me, the great cloud, I guess; I recognized hundreds of faces, the faces of those whose freedom I fought for. Their smiles and tears filled my heart with profound joy. As I made my way up the street toward Jesus and our Father, my friends and fellow warriors stepped into the street with me, and we moved forward as a band. I saw angels there, maybe angels who fought for us and with us, walking alongside. I saw flower petals on the pavement; I saw banners flapping in the breeze. We reached the throne and knelt. Jesus came forward and kissed my forehead, and we embraced deeply, freely, like I always knew we would. Then my Father stepped forward and took me by the shoulders and said, ‘Well done, my son. Very well done indeed. Welcome home.’ As we embraced, a great cheer went up from the crowd.”

Now, that would be a reception worth living for. The reality that every story will be told rightly should affect your choices today. If there is no cost to our Christian faith, how then shall we be rewarded? And may I point out that if we, too, would love to receive a hero’s welcome, it helps to keep in mind that valiant deeds require desperate times. The desperate times are all around us, friends; now for the valiant deeds.17

What kind of hero’s welcome awaits you? Can you imagine it? How, then, shall we live?

We enjoy deep intimacy with God right now because we can. We abide in His presence and we do what He says. We keep His Word especially close to our heart. We keep marching. We pray God’s Word. We dream wild dreams with Him. We take crazy faith risks. We believe. We encourage each other. We love well. We reflect His heart to the least of these. We remind one another that this is not our home. We’re only passing through. But we make this journey for a purpose.

Every step counts.

So we urge one another onward and upward. We remind ourselves that Jesus does His best work in our weakness. He loves our faith. And He’s happily at work, preparing a place for us. I think it’s safe to say He’s downright giddy for that day. And our hearts beat strong at the thought of the welcome and the life that await us.

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I pray you’ve found some healing on this journey. I pray your heart is encouraged and your faith strengthened. And I pray God will continue to work such wonders in and through you that countless others will look to Him for their own story.

It’s been my great honor to travel this road with you.

Until we meet again.

Susie Larson