God Rewards

His Lord said to him, 'well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord'. Matthew 25:21

God will reward us when we are faithful with what He has given or entrusted to us. Throughout the bible we see examples of people who were blessed in specific ways by God because of their faithfulness. He expects obedience when He sends or tasks us with a certain job, even when it would mean losing something else that we were holding on to. Knowing this, we involve Him in everything; in every step  to be taken and every decision made. Always being conscious to submit to His will and that will invoke His blessing. God rewards in different ways and how He has blessed one person may not be the same way that He rewards another.

Jesus and the way He conducted Himself during His time on earth, is a perfect example that God will reward faithfulness. Scripture says that God sent His only begotten Son Jesus to come and die so that the world could be saved John 3:16. He humbled Himself, came to earth Human as the son of a carpenter and though He had no sin, bore humiliation and a cruel death, hanging on a cross, just so that mankind could be saved. We see His determination to do the Father's will, even when it may not have been favourable to Him, when He asks the Father to let what was going to happen pass from Him, Jesus; nevertheless not His will, but the Father's should be done. After these good works God rewarded Jesus by sitting placing Him at His right side, placed His name above every other name and made Him heir over everything Hebrews 1:8, 12: 2. He also commanded His angels to worship Him.

So while on earth Jesus had no material wealth and He was not from a rich or high society family. This did not mean that the Father had neglected Him or that He did not have His blessing. God's blessings may not necessarily be through material wealth, something emphasized throughout the Gospel. Yes, a thing that most of us would not like to hear. He also rewards and blesses through good health, children, long life, promotion to greater positions, peace over all His children, eternal life and so on. In fact, in the old testament people like Elijah and Enoch did not die, but were taken up to heaven because of their faithfulness to God Genesis 5: 24.

Wealth however may also be a part of His blessing to His people. We particularly see this in the old testament. Because of his faithfulness, Abraham was not only blessed with a son, but he was also a man blessed with great wealth. Isaac had so much wealth that the Philistines sent him away because they were intimidated Genesis 26:16. Laban, Jacob's uncle admitted that he had acquired wealth through the favour that God had shown over Jacob. Joseph remained faithful to God even after he had been sold by his brothers as a slave and imprisoned for years under false accusations. Later, he, a slave in a foreign is made governor, second to king.  Remember Job, blessed in all areas of his life because he was faithful to God, but then lost everything. He remained faithful and God restored all that he had lost in a double portion Job 42:10. 

Daniel and Mordecai were also raised to greater positions, to serve in foreign kingdoms. The Israelites won over many battles because God was on their side; just to mention but a few of the people blessed because they pleased God.The gospel on the other hand like mentioned, does not necessarily give much importance to material wealth. When they started spreading the Gospel, the disciples were persecuted and some died very painful deaths. They did not have wealth. They committed their time and effort in spreading the Gospel. Some actually sold all their possessions to support the ministry. Yet we do not see these people regarding themselves as lacking. The men however were blessed in other ways. They were empowered by the Holy Spirit to perform miracles, signs and wonders. In other words they given everything that they needed to fulfill the purpose that God had for them.

The church grew and the number of people that believed increased across nations.  They knew about the promises of God and the reward that lay ahead as seen in 2John 1:8 "Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we receive a full reward." In Matthew 19:27-30, Jesus mentions that the disciples would be given the twelve thrones over the tribes of Israel, when He sits on His throne. When we give in to the will of God, He will be sure to reward us. This is also mentioned in Matthew 6: 2-4 that our good works, done for the glory of God and not of men, will be rewarded. So wait patiently because God will reward you when you do the work He has given you; Or sometimes we just need to look around and see that God indeed has blessed us, even in ways never expected.

I love this song "Give Me Faith" by Elevation Worship, has a great message