Colossians 3:23-24 “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, (24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the word translated “heartily” is an unfortunate translation, because that word does not communicate clearly to us what the Holy Spirit is saying. A more accurate translation of the word “heartily” would be to say, “out of the spirit”. And so this verse of scripture should read, “And whatever you do, do it out of the spirit, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” Clearly from this passage of scripture the Holy Spirit is teaching us that that, which is done in the spirit, will be rewarded on that day, for it is the works that are done in the spirit that will endure and not be burned up on that day?
Ephesians 6:5-8 “Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; (6) not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, (7) with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, (8) knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul reinforces the truth that that, which is done in the spirit will be rewarded on that day, for in this passage He tells us that doing the will of God from the heart is what will be rewarded on that day. The word translated “heart” in this passage can also be translated “spirit”. In other words the apostle Paul is teaching us that doing the will of God from our spirits is what will be rewarded on that day.
1 Corinthians 13:3 “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit reveals to us that even the most benevolent works done outside of the love of God, will count for nothing on the day of judgement, and the reason for that is because those works will have been done in the flesh. The flesh does good works to feel good and to be recognised by men, while the spirit does good works to please the Father. And so we can see that two individuals can do exactly the same work, i.e. they can both bestow all their goods to feed the poor, and because from the outside, both works look exactly the same, we would think that both will be rewarded equally by the Lord Jesus on their day of judgement. God however, looks on the heart and so only the work done from the spirit will be rewarded on that day, while the other will be burned up because it was done in the flesh, for we can only walk in the love of God by walking in the spirit.
Michael E.B. Maher
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