Mark 9:35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
Here is another example about how God operates different than we do. To be honest I am struggling a bit with a concept I have heard taught before, and I need to do more study on it. But I would like to hear what all of you think! I was thinking the other day about faith vs works in terms of salvation. I believe that we are saved by faith, not by our works, and I thought, how can someone do a good works to achieve salvation, because everything that they do would have a hidden and selfish motive, (their own salvation). So how good is that work if you have these motives ultimately. So, now "Christians"; if we are saved by faith and do good works to get a reward in heaven, how pure are our motives for good works if we are just in it for the reward in heaven? I know there are verses to support getting a reward in Heaven.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things DONE IN THE BODY, according to what He has done, whether good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10)
"... and each one will receive His own reward ACCORDING TO HIS OWN LABOR." (1 Corinthians 3:8)
"And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone ACCORDING TO HIS WORK." (Revelation 22:12)
I don't know... Perhaps we just need to forget about the rewards and do what we need to do, and be a servant with a pure heart, and then let God worry about the reward. We need to do good works because we love people, not for a reward. Chime in here! let me know what you think! Have a great day!
I agree, Ryan. God always sees the intentions of the heart, and I believe we'll be rewarded in heaven for the things that we do with a pure heart. The Bible tells us that doing things for show will only provide us with a short-term earthly reward (Matt 6:2,5,16), and that reward probably has to do with pride and impressing people. When we can begin to respond to the tugging of the Holy Spirit to do for others with no concern for what people think of us, and no concern for what rewards will come to us, maybe then we're on the right track.
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