Mark 10:28-30 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.
You will find that there are many reasons or ‘sakes’ in the Bible for what we do as believers. In the above text we see two of them( Christ’s sake, and the Gospel’s sake), and they are not the same.
There are other motivations or reasons why you can do the works you do = Righteousness, Christ’s name, Kingdom, Conscience, Others, Church, Money, Love, Truth,et cetera.
Whatever your reason for doing what you do is, the reward is not the same. FOR THE REWARD YOU WILL RECEIVE FOR THE WORKS YOU DO IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE MOTIVATION BEHIND IT.
Take for instance what Jesus said in Luke 6:22,
“Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.”
What does that mean?
You take a stand for Jesus Christ. And because of that stand, people ridicule and insult you. They separate themselves from you and you lose out on certain things for that. You are suffering for Christ’s sake. You are a believer with Christ’s values for life – your boss wants to sleep with you before giving you a promotion you genuinely deserve, and you say NO because of your Christian values; and lose the promotion as a result.
Jesus says to you, “RELAX, FOR BLESSED ARE YOU WHEN YOU SUFFER SUCH THINGS FOR MY SAKE”.
It might seem for a while that you are losing out, and others are advancing at your expense because of your Love For Christ. But when Jesus says, YOU ARE RATHER THE BLESSED ONE, believe it. Very soon, everyone including yourself will find that to be the truth. Stay blessed and resolute for Christ, Child of God. Amen.
GRACEFUL MORNING
