REWARD, ETERNAL

Our eternal reward reflects the amount of God’s glory that we have allowed to shine through us. It is like a chandelier that has many light bulbs, some 25 watt, some 50 watt, and some 100 watt. The light bulbs as a whole all give and contribute light to the room. That’s the way it will be in heaven, but some of us will be contributing only 25 watts, others 50 and still others a full 100 watts. How much of God’s light do you want to shine through you?1142

“We must not be troubled by unbelievers when they say that this promise of reward makes the Christian life a mercenary affair. There are different kinds of reward. There is the reward which has no natural connection with the things you do to earn it, and is quite foreign to the desires that ought to accompany those things. Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man a mercenary if he married a woman for the sake of her money. But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it.… The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation” (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory [New York: Macmillan, 1980]).1143

Henry C. Morrison, after serving for forty years on the African mission field, headed home by boat. On that same boat also rode Theodore Roosevelt. Morrison was quite dejected when, on entering New York harbor, President Roosevelt received a great fanfare as he arrived home. Morrison thought he should get some recognition for forty years in the Lord’s service.

Then a small voice came to Morrison and said, “Henry—you’re not home yet.”1144