Matthew 10:42 “And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”
Heavens account of our good works, are far more detailed than we can even begin to imagine. And so there will be works for which we will be rewarded on that day that we never imagined heaven would have noticed, but nevertheless nothing goes unrewarded in heaven. In the passage of scripture quoted above our Lord Jesus stated that something that to us may seem trivial, such as giving someone a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, would not go unrewarded on that day. No wonder the apostle Paul encouraged the saints to maintain good works while on the earth (Titus 3:8).
Matthew 26:6-13 “And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, (7) a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. (8) But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? (9) For this fragrant oil, might have been sold for much and given to the poor." (10) But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. (11) For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. (12) For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. (13) Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
When viewed in the natural, a work done in the spirit does not always look like a good work, for you will recall that the scripture teaches us that spiritual things are foolishness to the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:14). This is one of the reasons why the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul tells us to judge nothing before the time, for on that day God will reveal the motives of the heart for the works that have been done in this life. Again I must emphasize that God looks on the motivations of our hearts in all that we do. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit records an example for us of a work done in the spirit that will be rewarded on that day. We see in this passage that Mary was led by the Spirit of God to anoint the Lord Jesus with costly fragrant oil in preparation for His burial that He was about to undergo. In the natural this did not look like a good work at all, because of the apparent waste of money that could have been used for the more “noble” work of giving to the poor, and this passage reveals to us that all who looked at what Mary did that night condemned her for what they deemed to be an extravagant waste. But nevertheless we see that in the spirit this was an exceptional work that Mary did, and she was commended by the Lord Jesus for her obedience to the leading of the Spirit. And so from what we have seen in this section it is very clear that all works done in the spirit will be rewarded on that day, and I would encourage all believers who desire to be rewarded on their day of judgement to learn to walk in the spirit.
Michael E.B. Maher
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