“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Eze. 36:26)
I ask you this question today, do you believe that you will serve the Lord Jesus Christ more in heaven and eternity than you do today? I have said this numerous times, there are no rewards for good intentions in heaven, we will be rewarded for the work that we did here for the glory of God, and I believe I am correct in saying that some will receive more than you thought they would.
The man who works each day for his family, comes home tired and still finds the strength, and makes the time, sacrificing his own desires, to hold a short Bible study with them each evening, the woman who prays for him constantly and fervently.
I fear that most who call themselves Christians are not, and the Scriptures support this, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14) But even then, there are those who are saved who for whatever reason will remain unwilling to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, who may not receive any rewards whatsoever. These are the weaker brothers and sisters we have in Christ, and those who are strong in the Lord are not to admonish them wrongfully, we are not to just help them with their burdens, we are to make their burdens our own.
There is in a sense a duality here, for we desire to see them grow, and at times can become very frustrated with them when over a lengthy period of time we do not see that growth, such as Paul said to those in Hebrews 5:12, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”
While at the same time we want to impart the wisdom that the Lord has blessed us with to them, and again wrongfully expecting them to accept it immediately. It is the Holy Spirit that will convict them, and He will do so when it is time for them to grow. We teach as they can bear it, what they cannot yet bear, we bear for them.
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” (Phil. 2:3)
“I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” (Romans 14:14)
They don’t yet. Until their conscience is convicted, they will remain weaker in the faith, but that does not necessarily mean they will not receive a reward, for in some matters their faith may be strong. It is not the place of the one whose faith can honestly say, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21) to attempt to force that immediate growth of trust in the Lord upon them, but it is our responsibility to assist them whenever possible towards that goal, towards being profitable for the glory of God not only in all their actions, but in the trust of their heart towards Him.
A fine line indeed.
I ask you to contemplate this truth, the Lord Jesus Christ as He walked on this earth saw every single person that came to Him in faith as a weaker brother or sister, none can match His life in word or deed.
Why would we believe that we will be able to serve Christ better in heaven can only be answered by this question, what is holding you back from serving Him fully today? What is it in your conscience that keeps you from trusting in Him completely, without reservations, without questions? When you can answer that question for yourself, you will grow, maybe only a little at first, but that is how we walk the path that He has set before us, one step at a time.
When we trust and obey, we leave a small part of that weaker part of us behind, we look forward to the growth, to what lays on the path ahead, until the day that we see that small gate, and our Savior waiting there for us.
