Hello, My Dear Friends,
The New Testament suggests a remarkable connection between the cross and the crown. One inevitably results in the other. You can’t have a crown without a cross, and you never carry a cross which doesn’t result in a crown. That is to say, you can’t serve God without receiving a reward commensurate with the service involved. I know how reluctant we are to talk about rewards in the church, but the apostle Paul was not ashamed or afraid to say it clearly: “We are co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17).
Now, you can make only one thing out of that statement: God will see to it that those who do something for God in this world are not forgotten. Our reward may not be with material things, as those things perish. We are talking about imperishable things such as peace of mind, a clear conscience, and eternal life. These things last forever.
One of the names we remember which came out of the second World War is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He died at age 39 in the concentration camp at Buchenwald just a few days before the camp was liberated by Allied soldiers. The man ultimately responsible for his death was Adolf Hitler. Hitler wanted Bonhoeffer silenced, but Bonhoeffer was not silenced. His death may have resulted in making him remembered as one of the half dozen or so greatest Christians of the last century.
My guess is that far down the future’s way, Bonhoeffer will be listed among the saints while Adolf Hitler will be synonymous with all that is sinister and evil. We might do well, each of us, to remember this. Bonhoeffer had no crown until he had carried a cross. But God would not let him carry a cross without giving him a crown.
God is no less faithful with the least of us. The admonition to us today is, never turn back. Hang in there. Somewhere, sometime, every sacrifice will be rewarded, and every good deed will bring its just payment.
God finally comes through in His promises,
Bruce Jones, Pastor
Imagine Church
