Christian Counselor, Dr. Henry Cloud, writes in his book, "9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life," about the principle of playing the movie all the way to the end to see the ultimate outcome of our current actions.

"Sowing and reaping is about what I will ultimately end up with if I sow this particular behavior, choice, attitude, value, or strategy. Playing the movie means never to see any individual action as a singular thing in and of itself. To understand that action, you have to play it out all the way to the end of the movie."

One of the most difficult things can be to get some young people to think about their future and enable them to see the connection between what they do now in school and the quality of life they will live in the future. A eight year old thinks it would be brilliant to work for McDonald's some day. Teenagers feel they would be a millionaire if they had a job that paid $1,000 per month some day. Yet, when they become 25, working for McDonald's becomes disgusting and the $1,000 per month becomes chicken feed.

Our perspectives about life change over time. And one thing is certain, a young person's opinions will be different in the future.

This highlights a problem I see with many believers today when it comes to the subject of rewards. "If I get to heaven, that will be great, I don't really care if I get any rewards." Yet, when you get to heaven you might feel entirely differently about the whole mater.

Many times, the Bible presents the the subject of rewards as an incentive to faithfulness, growth, and accomplishment. We should not allow ourselves to discount this important subject just because we feel getting to heaven will be so glorious that I won't care about any thing else.

READ: 1 Cor 3:10-15

"If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward." v.14

Only those works done in obedience to the Lord, with a proper motivation and dependence upon him, will survive the searing heat.

Given out when we get to heaven J "He has gone home to his reward."

The fact of rewards

"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him (rewards) for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

2 Co 5:6-10

"The time has come for. . . for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great"

Rev 11:18

"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done." Re 22:12

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Col 3:23-24

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven." Mt 5:10-12

The nature of believers rewards remains unspecified here

In 1 Cor 4:5 it will be described as "praise from God."

Some rewards are described as Crowns

"Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever" 1 Co 9:25. Lack of self-discipline would disqualified him for the prize.

Higher responsibilities in the millennial kingdom.

"His master replied, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things ("take charge of ten cities" Luke). Come and share your masters happiness!"

Mt 25:21

A new nationwide survey of girls and boys found that a majority of children and youth in the United States have little or no interest in achieving leadership roles when they become adults, ranking "being a leader" behind other goals such as "fitting in," "making a lot of money" and "helping animals or the environment." a random sample of more than 4,000 children ages 8 to 17.

These responsibilities will matter to us in the future no matter what our current attitudes happen to be.

Transformation "The highest reward for mans toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it." John Ruskin

The quality of Christian living, the feeling of being guilt free and connected to God, the blessing of helping others and living a moral life, is often the greatest reward.

The purpose of rewards

Rewards are used by God to cheer us amid the sufferings we encounter while serving Christ.

"You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Heb 10:34-36

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Ro 8:18

Give up our will for God's will. Our time for: prayer, Bible study, and service to others. Our money to help others and tithe to the Lord's work and to support missions outreach. "Store up treasures in heaven."

"Peter answered him, We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?. . . And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." Mt 19:27-30

"He (Moses) regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward." Reward is looked at as a praiseworthy motivation. Heb 11:26

Working directly for reward is not an effective motivation

Paul says that the love of Christ compels him, that's our prime motivation. Obedience to God's commands, faithfulness to his call, commitment to purity, are all prime motivators.

A painter, in order to paint at a high level, must love painting; the subject he paints, the materials he uses. The painter who paints for reward or for a big payday will find that he can't seem to paint at all. There is no authentic motivation there. It takes love and devotion to produce anything of real value in life.

We can imagine that Mother Teresa will be highly rewarded in heaven for her self-sacrifice and devotion to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying in Calcutta India for over 40 years. But, we all can easily see that if her motivation was simply to receive heavenly rewards, that motivation itself would have fouled every effort she made to help others.

If you say, "No one ought to do right for the sake of reward," I go further and say, "No man can do right for the sake of reward." A thing in itself right, done for reward, would, in the very doing, cease to be right." At the same time, if a man does right, he cannot escape being rewarded for it. George MacDonald

"If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." v.15

"If it is burned up, he will suffer loss"

This loss is not sitting in the corner with a dunce cap on.

The loss of rewards that will matter to us in heaven. This must be received by faith!

"he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames"

Why will he be saved? Because salvation is of grace and not works, while rewards have everything to do with our accomplishments in walking with God.

The thought here is of a person who runs through flames without being burned, but who has the smell of smoke on him-barely escaping!

This is a reference to the carnal Christian mentioned in verses 1-4. The one who has not grown in their faith, who is easily filled with jealousy and quarreling and divisiveness. Very little has been accomplished by them.

There are many reasons for us to give God our all. One of those reasons is the motivation of rewards. The promise of rewards will soften the pain of sacrifice that will be necessary.