# Rewards ## Note - I am struggling today with my attitude. - [[777]] - Lord, please help me. What is the root cause of my bad attitude. Please bring it to the surface so you can heal it. - While reading the Holiness devotion, the author implied there were no rewards for works done after becoming a Christian. I did a word study on the word "reward" and got 331 hits using NetBible. I only looked at the ones in the NT. - Jesus talked about rewards over a dozen times. Paul talked about reward, prize or crown over a dozen times. - A couple of verses from Jesus are crystal clear, Matt 16:27 and Rev 22:12. - Some of the other key ones include: Matt 5:12, Matt 5:4-6, Matt 6:1-2, Matt 6:4-6, Matt 6:16, Matt 6:18, Matt 10:41-42, Mark 9:41, Luke 6:23, Luke 6:35, Luke 10:7, John 4:36, John 12:26, Rom 2:6, Rom 4:4, 1 Cor 3:8, 1 Cor 9:17-18, 1 Cor 9:24, 2 Cor 5:10, Gal 6:8, Eph 6:8, Phil 4:1, Col 2:18, Col 3:24, 1 Thes 2:19, 1 Tim 5:18, Heb 10:35, Heb 11:6, Heb 11:26, Jam 1:12, 2 John 1:8 and Rev 2:23. - Not included in this list is the Matt 25 passage on sheep and goats and the Luke 19 passage on the Ten Minas. Both are parables on rewards. - In my opinion, the evidence is overwhelming. God is trying to communicate something about rewards to us. - I don't understand how someone can take the position that there are no rewards for deeds done in the body. I have never seen anyone present any scriptural evidence to prove their point. On the other hand, as shown above, there is broad evidence to support the reward position. - [[777]] - Lord, please help me understand all this. --- I received a revelation!! - I have been pondering all that God has been saying to me over the last couple of years. There are four main topics / areas: - My mission statement - Doing: stuff for God (works / deeds) - Being: mostly the Nudist Christian stuff - Rewards (Ten Minas) - I have struggled about how they all fit together. In one sense, they seemed to contradict each other. - This morning I got a picture of how the last three fit.  Explanation - The "deeds" stuff refers to all the mission type work including overseas and local. It also includes all the justice stuff such as counter-human trafficking. God has done a lot in my heart about justice over the last year. Previously, it was very low on my priority. - The 'being" stuff refers to who I am in Christ. Over the last year, God has mainly spoke through the nudity stuff. I am convinced Jesus died to set me free from my guilt and shame. - For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. {Galatians 5.1} - Of course the main goal was to invite me into His family. However, to become a child of God, someone (Jesus) had to pay the price for my sin. - As I discussed this morning, I am convinced God has some sort of system [of rewards] for His children. According to scripture, there is no way to "earn" our way into heaven. However, once we are members of His family, there is overwhelming evidence that He has a reward system. I don't fully understand it, but this morning I prayed for insight and then a couple of hours later, I got this picture. - There is some sort of "divine-tension" between "being / resting in God" and in "doing" for God. Based on this morning's revelation, I believe God rewards us based on pursuing both sides of the divine-tension. I don't think we can just work on one side and forget the other. However, I believe God doesn't look at our lives in the same chronicle order that we do. In other words, on any given day, we may be fully focused on one side and the next on the other side. The focus could even be for several years at a time. - I think our role is to surrender to God, listen to Him and obey Him. God's role is to guide us, direct us and empower us to become Holy.