Bruce Wilkinson
Bruce Wilkinson is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Prayer of Jabez(R) and Secrets of the Vine(R), The Dream Giver, as well as numerous other books. He serves as the chairman of Dream for Africa, Global Vision Resources, and Ovation Productions. Bruce and his wife, Darlene Marie, have three children and six grandchildren. They divide their time between Georgia and South Africa.
David Kopp
David Kopp is a writer and editor living in Oregon.
Excerpt. (c) Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Keyhole to the Stars
"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!
For indeed your reward is great in heaven."
JESUS, IN LUKE 6:23 What if today really was the first day of the
rest of your life? Today you make your trade--everything you have
accomplished and become for whatever God offers in exchange. There
you are, poised on the brink, lifetime in hand, ready to step into
eternity. What a moment! And what an amazing exchange! Your blink
in the sun for God's endless day. Your spoonful of water for His
Amazon River. You take your step. You put down your little handful
of time and pick up your forever life.... But what if I told you
that the small choices you make today--like how you interact with
your boss, or whom you invite to dinner--could change what happens
next? Would you be surprised? In the little book you're holding,
you're going to discover that Jesus revealed that our actions now
will affect our future forever. Astoundingly, millions who follow
Jesus seem to have missed what He said. Could you be one? I was. I
grew up in a family that attended church regularly, and I was
taught the Bible from the time I was young. Later I spent nine
years pursuing theological training. But the clear teachings of
Jesus on this subject remained lost to me, like overlooked
treasures in my own house. When I finally discovered them, many
things started to make sense for the first time. Let's admit it:
Any change in how we think about our future, even if it could
radically improve our prospects, takes courage. We struggle to let
go of comfortable assumptions, even when they're preventing us from
seeing the whole truth. We're like toddlers peering
through a keyhole at the night sky, trying to hold on to our tiny
patch of stars. But the keyhole is so small and the view is so
great. Jesus wants to open the door and show us more. Much more.
PREPARE TO BE ASTONISHED
No one made more shocking statements about the afterlife than Jesus
of Nazareth. His teachings often left His audiences amazed,
dumbfounded, even outraged. Take His first public appearance at the
age of twelve: "All who heard Him were astonished at His
understanding and answers" (Luke 2:47). When Jesus formally began
His ministry, His audience was again "astonished" (Matthew 7:28).
In His teaching known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:
"Blessed are you when men hate you,
And when they exclude you,
And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,
For the Son of Man's sake.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!"
LUKE 6:22-23 You might know these verses well. I have to confess
that I read them dozens, if not scores, of times before I really
read them. Jesus' statement seems incredible, doesn't it? I used to
think He was saying something like, "If you are persecuted on My
behalf, you'll be so happy that you'll jump for sheer delight." But
if you read on, it's clear that that's not what Jesus meant. He
continued: "For indeed your reward is great in heaven."
V. 23 In those eight words, Jesus reveals why you and I can
rejoice, even in the worst circumstances. Why? Because there is a
direct connection between something you do for Him on earth and
something "great" He will do for you in heaven. Notice that Jesus
describes it as a reward for doing, which would distinguish it, for
example, from a gift you receive for believing. Also, the reward is
specifically and personally yours if you behave in one way, but is
not yours if you behave in another (for example, if you ran away
under the pressure of persecution). You see, Jesus isn't asking you
and me to enjoy misery on His behalf. Instead He's saying that the
consequences in heaven for certain actions on earth will be so
wonderful that simply knowing they're coming--and knowing that they
will be great--can transform how we live now. Yes, and even create
spontaneous outbursts of joy! This promise of reward in heaven
isn't an isolated example of Jesus' teachings on the subject: - "He
will reward each according to his works"
(Matthew 16:27). - "You will have treasure in heaven" (Matthew
19:21). - "You will be blessed...for you shall be repaid at the
resurrection" (Luke 14:14). As you're about to discover, the
implications of these passages are enormous. For one thing, they
suggest that God is keeping track of what you do for Him every
day.
For another, that you have more to gain by serving Him than you
ever imagined. TRACKING DOWN THE PROMISE
Let me tell you how I came to write this book. In 1985 when I first
stumbled upon Jesus' teachings on reward in heaven, I was startled.
What He was saying seemed to contradict much of what I had always
been taught and believed. So I began an intensive search for the
truth, starting with every Bible verse on the subject of eternal
rewards. I studied theological and scholarly works. I spent hours
thinking about what Jesus seemed to be saying with such urgency.
And I became convinced that spiritual seekers around the world,
including millions of Jesus' followers, had mislaid a truth of
great importance and promise--and it was time to get it back. Five
years of in-depth study and twelve thick binders later, my findings
lined the shelves of my study. One day I got a call from Dr. Earl
Radmacher, president of Western Seminary in Oregon, inviting me to
present my material in a weeklong graduate course at the seminary.
I agreed, but only after he promised to assemble a panel of leading
scholars, including some who had also been studying rewards, to sit
in and evaluate every word. On an April morning several months
later, I walked across the seminary campus, lugging my teaching
materials. I arrived at the lecture room, which was filled with
some of the brightest individuals I had ever met: department
chairpersons of the Greek and Hebrew languages, church historians,
Bible teachers, seminarians, and pastors from a range of
denominations. I taught every morning for four hours. Each
afternoon, a special group of scholars met at
Dr. Radmacher's home and debated every point. One day a church
historian from Romania assured us that what we were studying was
not new theology; it had been part of Christian beliefs and
teaching from the first century on. To make his point he asked us,
"What do the greats of church history such as Augustine, Luther,
Calvin, Wesley, and Spurgeon all have in common?" When everyone
hesitated, he told us his answer: "They all earnestly believed in
and hoped for eternal rewards." Toward the end of the week, I
noticed a shift. The roomful of scholars was spending less time
debating and more time responding personally to the material. One
afternoon an older participant pulled me aside. "I thought God
brought me here to learn more about eternal rewards," he said, "but
I was wrong. He brought me here to change my heart--I'm leaving a
changed professor!" On the last day, I asked the group, "Are you
convinced that what I've been teaching about rewards is consistent
with what Jesus taught?" "We're convinced," they replied. And I
have never looked back. THE TWO KEYS
In the pages ahead, you'll encounter for yourself the findings we
explored that week at Western Seminary. Whether you're familiar
with Jesus' teachings about eternal rewards or you're coming upon
them for the first time, encourage you to read with great
expectation. Important spiritual breakthroughs await you. Starting
with statements Jesus made, we'll carefully construct the biggest,
truest view possible of your entire life. We'll be using a lot of
familiar words--words like heaven, treasure, works, and faith. I
urge you to be patient as we look beneath these familiar labels for
hidden insights. The teachings of Jesus show us that there are two
keys that determine everything about your eternity. The first key
is your belief. This key unlocks the door to eternal life and
determines where you will spend eternity. The second key is your
behavior. It unlocks the door to reward and determines how you will
spend eternity. This second key is the focus of A Life God Rewards.
Although the role of behavior (we'll also use words like actions or
works) isn't more important to your future than belief, it has been
more overlooked in recent times. And the promise of rediscovering
the truths it unlocks is enormous, especially for followers of
Jesus. In fact, by the time you're done reading, you'll approach
daily life in a dramatically different way. Simple decisions, such
as how you spend your time and money, will become opportunities of
great promise. And you will begin to live with an unshakable
certainty that everything you do today matters forever. RUMORS OF
BLUE WHALES
In the first book in this series, The Prayer of Jabez, we learned
that God wants us to ask for His blessing and for greater
influence, or "territory," in this world. The next book, Secrets of
the Vine, showed that Jesus wants our territory to produce a great
harvest of good works for Him. In A Life God Rewards, I want to
show you how the harvest you produce will directly impact your
experience in eternity--and how that truth can change your life
today for the better. I'll admit that on a subject like eternity,
we must proceed thoughtfully and humbly. We're like tadpoles
swapping stories of blue whales. We're like one twin in the womb
trying to convince his brother that it's only a matter of time
before they're both breathing air and riding tricycles. Fortunately
fo...
Ask a Question About this Product More... |