Your Reward is Before You!

Isaiah 40:10 "Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and His arm rules for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and his recompense before Him."

Revelation 22:12 "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."

Isaiah tells us that the LORD'S arm shall rule for Him and that He is coming with a reward - and a similar passage in Revelation declares that the Lord is coming to reward His saints.

We live this earthly life recognizing that we are “strangers and pilgrims” (Hebrews 11:13) in this world — but are working now in full expectation of a heavenly future. C.S. Lewis once wrote, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world!"

We know we were made for another world, where the treasure we have stored while working here will neither rust nor corrode, nor be stolen. If you're looking for a pat on the back now (not that praises shouldn't be given or received), you've missed the point of ministry.

I remember a story about a couple who faithfully served Jesus as missionaries – on returning home their years of service seemed to go unnoticed. One evening while sitting on a bed in a cheap motel, the husband started to cry and said, "We've served God for years. We've got no money, two bags of clothes, and no home to go to!" His wife looked at him and said, "Hon, we're not home yet!"

We're not home yet! Don't believe for a minute that your work in this world is going unseen in Heaven. "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister." (Hebrews 6:10) Let's be earnestly seeking His praise that when we see Him face to face, He may say to all of us, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant!" A true homecoming… it will be a kingdom Party with rewards.