1 Peter, 60 of 66

Suffering stinks.

Sometimes I really dislike what the Bible says.  Seriously.  Take 2 Corinthians 5:10 as a great example.  If you just read the following, you and I wouldn’t have much trouble:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body…

That seems relatively harmless, right?  Basically, if Jesus is your Savior, when you die you will appear before Him to receive your rewards for how you lived in this life.  This is not about eternal judgment, this about rewards for the life you lived.  Do well, receive more rewards.  Fairly straight forward.

Except for the four words at the end of the verse that I left off:

 PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 26 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

EXPERIENCE 

THE

REWARDS

 "I want the presence of God Himself, or I don’t want anything at all to do with religion…I want all that God has or I don’t want any."

-A.W. Tozer

Have you ever thought about why God wants to reward us? I know I do it for my children. They work so much more efficiently if they are motivated by a reward. And it’s just fun to see their faces when they receive a reward. Is it any different for us? Apparently not. God wants to reward us. 

Jeremiah 17:10

“I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve.”

Mark 1:35 – Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 

Luke 5:16 – But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

My challenge to you is this: follow Jesus OFTEN into solitary places. Plan at least 3 times today to retreat with Jesus for 7 minutes or more. Put it on your calendar, and go into the secret place.