What Gets Rewarded - GraceLife Church of Pineville

Introduction

Let me paint a scenario for you. You’re watching a celebrity give an interview, or you’re listening to a podcast, and then that awkward topic of God or Heaven or what happens after you die comes up. You hear the person being interviewed give an answer that makes you wince.

We saw this a couple months ago, when someone was asking the U.S. president about peace treaties and things of that nature. He somewhat jokingly said, “I’m trying to do these things so I can maybe make it into Heaven somehow.” Then he commented that he was pretty sure he wasn’t Heaven-bound, that nothing was going to get him there.¹

We hear things like that, and those of us who are believers wish more people understood the nature of the gospel. Just trust in Christ for eternal life, and He will give it to you—He’ll make good on the promise of the free gift! He’s already made good on the payment. You just have to accept it!

When you understand the free nature of the gospel, it’s frustrating to watch people wrestle with the question about how we’re saved. You think, “I wish they could move past this attitude of, ‘Well, you know, I hope I make it, but I don’t know—I’ll just hope for the best.’”

Here’s a parallel to that: I’m afraid that that same hope-for-the-best uncertainty is an attitude that’s prevalent among some who understand the nature of the gospel but who fail to understand the fuller Scriptural picture of rewards. They’re secure in their eternal salvation, but when it comes to living an earthly life worthy of being rewarded in the next life—a life worthy of hearing, “Well done, good and faithful servant”—the believer’s attitude becomes, “Well, I don’t know if, or how, that will happen, but I sure hope that will happen to me.”

I’m afraid that that same hope-for-the-best uncertainty is an attitude that’s prevalent among some who understand the nature of the gospel but who fail to understand the fuller Scriptural picture of rewards.

In my last sermon, we talked about “The Nature of Rewards”, namely some possibilities of what those rewards might be. In this sermon, we talk about what gets rewarded. In other words, what behavior gets rewarded? What can you do to earn such rewards? Who gets rewarded?

Don’t misunderstand: I’m not preaching that you can go about this with a foolish self-certainty—that you can somehow lock in rewards, coast to the finish line, and rest on your laurels thinking, “Yeah, I’ve got this; I’ve done some good things in the past.” Even the apostle Paul talked about the possibility of being disqualified from the race. I don’t mean canceled from Heaven, but losing out on what could have been his through patience, diligence, and running the race in a way to win.

As with everything, let’s let the Scriptures guide our approach to reward.

I’m not preaching that you can go about this with a foolish self-certainty—that you can somehow lock in rewards … and rest on your laurels.

Reward as Motivation—Or, How to Live Well

We’ll begin by looking at Hebrews 6. This chapter is familiar to those who have been following our overarching series on “The Elementary Principles of the Oracles of God,” based on Hebrews 5:12–6:2, which we began over two years ago. The six elementary or basic principles laid out in 6:1–2 are:

Repentance from dead works
Faith toward God
Instruction about baptisms (or washings)
Laying on of hands
Resurrection from the dead
Eternal judgment (our current and last subseries in the larger series)

Later in Hebrews 6 are some verses that will help frame our view of how rewards work in relation to salvation. (There are plenty of other passages that I could cite as well.) The author (whose identification isn’t known with certainty) has told his audience that they should be teachers by now, and he’s told them they need to press on toward maturity. The implication is that they haven’t been doing those things. The writer says:

Beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. (Hebrews 6:9)

Note that the author is speaking not of issues of eternal salvation but of “things that accompany salvation” (emphasis mine). He’s speaking of living well, earning reward—things related to sanctification rather than justification. The passage continues:

For God is not unjust so as to forget your work² and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:10–12)

In summary, there are some things for the believers receiving this letter to still realize about their lives—some growth and maturation in Christ still to occur. In addition, notice he says “promises” plural at the end of verse 12; there are multiple promises associated with salvation. We’re not just offered the gift of Heaven, but there’s also a promise of good things that accompany our salvation.

We’re not just offered the gift of Heaven, but there’s also a promise of good things that accompany our salvation.

Some followers of Jesus have given up on the idea of being rewarded—maybe they’re convinced rewards are not possible for them, or they simply have no idea what would get rewarded. What I primarily want to emphasize is that while there remains some mystery as to what God will reward, there are some things laid out for us in Scripture (clear examples) on how to be rewarded.

Nonetheless, you may still wrestle with this idea of reward as motivation. Good news: Even though it is biblical to view reward as motivation, you can also just view this as a sermon on how to live well. (Please do that if it helps you!)

Even though it is biblical to view reward as motivation, you can also just view this as a sermon on how to live well.

I pose this question to anyone watching/listening or reading: Do you desire to live well? Do you desire to live a godly life in the power of Christ?

Think about your answer. Hold on to it. We’ll return to it at the end.

Organizing a Sermon on Rewards

How do you organize a sermon on rewards? Well, you could survey all the possible ways to be rewarded that are listed in Scripture. That would take me another 12 weeks to preach through. We won’t do that.

You could organize the series according to what many call the “crown rewards.” Most studies probably do organize the topic of rewards that way. As I said in my last sermon, I tend to understand the crowns more as representative of the nature of rewards than as absolute and exhaustive categories. I’m not saying there aren’t actual crowns; maybe there are. But I think the scope of rewards is broader than that.

You could look at negative and positive actions. There are ways to gain reward and ways to lose reward. Ironically, the one way to avoid losing rewards is to “let not many of you become teachers” for they will “incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1). There’s an interesting tension, because we see in Hebrews the writer saying, You should have been teachers by now (see Hebrews 5:12), while James is saying, Let few of you be teachers. Understanding how the Bible can say both of these (seemingly contradictory) things requires wisdom.

Here’s the approach that I will be taking. We’re going to tie this study of rewards into something I already proposed regarding eternal judgment: that your condition in the eternal state (in terms of Heaven and Hell) is going to be proportional to how well you lived out the Great Commands.³

It’s a pretty simple concept, but it’s everything.

In terms of Heaven and Hell, we considered this idea in previous sermons:⁴ Heaven will be the greatest experience because it will be the perfect and perpetual fulfillment of the Great Command. Hell will be the worst experience because it will be the perpetual unfulfillment of the Great Command. Heaven is where and when you and everyone around you will always love God, always love themselves, and always love others. Hell is where and when no one loves God, no one loves themselves, and no one loves others. Probably worse than that, Hell will be where and when everyone hates God, themselves, and others.

In keeping with this idea, then, reward is proportional to how well you fulfill the Great Commands—that is, how well you loved God, how well you loved yourself, and how well you loved others. (The Greatest Command is to love God, which is the umbrella command under which the other commands—to love yourself and others—fall.)

Reward is proportional to how well you fulfill the Great Commands—that is, how well you loved God, how well you loved yourself, and how well you loved others.

The obvious secret is this: these “other commands,” loving oneself and others, are inseparable. You will not love others well apart from some sense of your own self-worth in Christ. Neither can you genuinely love yourself correctly without extending your love toward the neighbor.

Rewarded Through Loving Yourself

In Matthew 5, Jesus says this:

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (vv. 10–11)

Here’s our first statement about what (or who) gets rewarded:

Reward comes to those who sacrifice status here on earth for the sake of righteousness.

This is not saying that you should go out and seek persecution. We’re not masochists. Nor does this mean if you go out and create a social media account and say provocative things, you immediately get rewarded. What gets rewarded is persecution that comes your way because of your devotion to Christ. It’s pursuing righteousness even at the expense of worldly gain, and doing the right thing for the sake of Christ when it costs you wealth and/or reputation, health, or personal ambition.⁵

And here’s an odd command about that: Rejoice and be glad. It doesn’t say Enjoy the mockery, or Enjoy the false accusation and being the target of evil words. But it does put all of those things within an historical and eternal perspective.

You see, present suffering is like the faithful suffering of past heroes of the faith, and it tells us that our future reward is worth the present suffering. The insults, the persecution, the lies, the evil words—all of those things are nothing but worldly attempts at taking from you. They’re attempts to take from you your dignity, your well-being, your character, your integrity, your joy. But you get to rejoice because worldly attempts to take from you are ineffective and fleeting. They produce the opposite effect. What the world debits here is a credit in the kingdom. Every insult on earth in the name of Christ will result in corresponding praise from Christ Himself in the day of judgment. The falsehoods that are uttered in darkness will result in more light of truth at the judgment. Every shovelful of dirt being thrown at you here is a mound of treasure being stored in the kingdom.

What the world debits here is a credit in the kingdom.

The command to rejoice in the midst of unpleasant things has its most famous verse, I think, at the beginning of the book of James. We turn there now to see the second thing that gets rewarded:

Consider it all joy, my brethren [fellow believers], when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete,⁶ lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

Here’s the second thing that is rewarded:

Reward comes to those who endure the trials which shape them into conformity to the image of Christ.

There is a completed, mature, and perfect version of you that God will faithfully lead you to. James 5:12 goes on to say, “Blessed is the person who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

Do you know what a gift we have in these Scriptures, which give us hope that there is purpose in suffering? How terrible this life would be wondering, Why has God left us to this end? Why is the One who says He loves us letting us suffer in this way? Instead, we have the promise that trials, even when they seem to crush us, are used of God to build us.

So how do we get to that point of maturity? How do we walk along that path of completion, of being perfected and conformed to the image of Christ? We don’t get to that point immediately on day one. And we don’t get there through ease.

We’ve discussed the analogies before: boxing, going to war, doing the hard work of a farmer. These are the examples Scripture gives of what it’s like to pursue Christ. None of these examples are of overnight successes.

You also need to know that it’s not merely through suffering and the onslaught of terrible things that will grow you in Christ. I’m not going to line up and get slapped in the face over and over and over again and be able to say, “Okay, here we go—I’m more mature now.” No, suffering and difficulties will break some people. The growth and maturity through adversity isn’t automatic.

So here’s another principle:

Reward comes to those who tend to that which has been planted in them.

Reward comes to those who protect and nourish what God has planted in them. James speaks to this as well. He talks about protecting ourselves from “filthiness and all that remains of wickedness.” We’re to put aside those things, James says—a strange but important phrase for understanding his letter. Putting those things aside, we’re to, “in humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). Perhaps a better translation, is “which is able to save your life.”

Note that this life-saving word is an “implanted” word—it’s already there. He’s talking to the believer who has believed in Christ for eternal life. He has something implanted inside of him. So James says, “receive” that which is already implanted—welcome it; tend to it.

This idea of “save your life” is a more complete picture than just justification for eternal life. He’s saying, There’s something in you that can sprout up to fruitful living. It’s the full sense of salvation that Paul writes about in Philippians, where we also see the idea of receiving what’s been implanted:

So then, my beloved,⁷ just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

Every word is important in these verses. Notice it’s not “work for your salvation” but “work out your salvation.”

Paul continues:

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ⁸ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me. (Philippians 2:14–18, emphasis mine)

We see the idea of welcoming the Word in the phrase “holding fast the word of life.” This is something you as a believer already have; now you’re to hold it fast.

Now here’s something interesting: Not only has God imparted to us new life and implanted within us a spiritual seed that may flourish to maturity, but He gives us others to sow into our lives, to nurture that life of Christ in us. Remember our agricultural analogy from the last sermon (and from 1 Corinthians 3:6–8). Some plant, and some water, but God causes the growth. We need to tend to that which has been implanted in us both by God and by His servants.

I’ll use this verse to pivot toward another category of what is rewarded: loving others.

Rewarded Through Loving Others

We’re rewarded through loving ourselves, but we’re also rewarded through loving others.

Here’s an often-overlooked truth: Your obedience will lead to others being rewarded. Did you catch that in the Philippians passage? Paul tells the Philippians to “[hold] fast the word of life” because, for one, it’s for your good, but secondly, because in the day of judgment, he will have reason to glory because I won’t have worked in vain.

When the Lord says, “Show me the results of your labor, Paul,” Paul doesn’t want to be ready to show the Philippians and then turn around and go “Whoops! Where’d you Philippians go?!” He wants them to stay the course.

Let me reiterate again the danger in apathy toward reward. If you adopt the mindset “I don’t really care about such things,” you’re saying, to some extent, “I don’t really care about your rewards, fellow co-laborers in Christ.” We’re in this together.

Philippians 2 warns against this kind of apathy.

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (vv. 1–4)

We may read this passage and think, “Okay, yeah, Paul wants complete joy.” But we know if you read the whole passage, he’s looking forward to the judgment seat of Christ. And that’s where his joy will be made complete.

In this passage, Paul speaks of this shared glory, shared reward—this group project in faithful living. He also speaks of it in 1 Thessalonians.

Remember, the Thessalonians were recent converts who had converted from idol worship. Paul has sent Timothy to find out if they’d regressed, because they might have heard that Paul was undergoing suffering and decided to turn back to their idols (“We had better luck with them!” they might’ve been thinking). In 1 Thessalonians 2:8, Paul writes:

Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.

Paul is speaking of his past time with the Thessalonians. He goes on:

You recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and his glory.

For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:9–13, emphasis mine)

Notice again this idea of the implanted Word doing something in them. It performs its work in those who believe. There is a post-belief work to be done in our lives.

For you, brethren,⁹ became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins.¹⁰ But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.

But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan hindered us. For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:14–20)

You do well; I do well; we all do well. You will be the reason for a crown when Christ returns.

Some might bristle at the thought of a group project. I get it—I hated them in school. Not fair. Why is their effort going to affect my grade?! I challenge you, as I have in prior sermons, to think of it this way instead: Worry about yourself. Live in such a way that you’re not the reason someone else runs in vain. Live in such a way that those who have sowed in your life will not have sowed in vain. Here are some principles to keep in mind:

Our competition isn’t against others; it’s against ourselves.
Our victories are often measured by the victories of others (we better cultivate love for others!).
Our strength to compete is sourced in grace.

Now, let me give a summary of this joint effort:

Reward comes to those whose lives of faithfulness produce in others lives of faithfulness.

And so we seek to serve and love others.

Let’s look at just a few more ways Scripture teaches us that serving others leads to reward.

More Ways Loving & Serving Others Leads to Reward

Daniel 12 talks about a time of great tribulation and the future resurrection to come—the resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous. Regarding the righteous, Daniel says something about reward: “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (12:3). There’s a glory we are all to share in Christ. And in our study on the resurrection from the dead (the fifth of the six elementary principles of the oracles of God found in Hebrews 6:1–2), we saw that there is this base level of glory that we share—though “base” sounds weird to say, since it’s certainly not a low level of glory—it’s still really good. But from Daniel, we see that there seems to be a chance to reflect Christ even more. That is our great reward.

As I’ve said before, there seem to be degrees of glory: “Those who lead the many to righteousness,” Daniel says, will shine “like the stars forever and ever.” They will shine even more brightly.

So we can say this:

Reward comes to those who share the gospel.

Or using the language of Daniel, reward comes to those who lead others to righteousness.

It’s budget season for our church. During that season, I get asked a lot about what we should do to grow the church. I say the same thing every time: “Who are you sharing the gospel with?” I’m not interested in sheep swapping. Share the gospel.

There are those gifted in evangelism. We’re all called to be able to give an account for the hope that is within us. Some are able to connect and speak to others in a more skillful way. And if you don’t feel like you can do that, you can support the work of those who are faithful, gifted evangelists or teachers.

Do not give up on rewards because you think they only go to the Billy Grahams of the world. I think there are going to be some surprises.

Look at this promise in Matthew, where Jesus is talking to His disciples:

He¹¹ who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. (Matthew 10:40–42)

In the grace of God, there may be only one person who gets the spotlight by seeing the conversion after sharing God’s Word. But in this passage in Matthew, Jesus is saying that all who have supported that process—even in little ways—will be rewarded. There are multiple benefits of those who co-labor in Christ. And that “receiving reward” comes in various forms to those who share the word of Christ: for example, encouragement, financial support, and prayer support.

One last principle:

Reward comes to those who serve those overlooked by the world.

Luke 14:12–14 says this:

And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.¹² But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

For what it’s worth, I think that verse also speaks well to the timeline we’ve talked about. It’s not death, then immediate judgment and rewards. Rewards come at a certain time in history—at the resurrection.

Conclusion: Serve and Share

In my last sermon, I framed this whole study in terms of the two guarantees in life (according to Hebrews 9:27): death and judgment. (It’s not death and taxes … even though taxes sometimes feel like judgment. Some years they feel like death!) We said that since everyone will die and everyone will face judgment, it’s interesting to look at the life of a person at the end of life, someone who knows they’re about to die. What if we could see the life of someone in their last moments and we’re able to say, “This was a faithful person. They lived well”? And we said, we have such an example—a man facing death who lived well, who earned rewards for the well-lived life. That example is the apostle Paul.

Let’s close by looking once again at Paul’s last letter, 2 Timothy. In my last sermon, I said that what I wanted to speak about was Paul’s life at the end, but that I thought I ought to first speak about the nature of rewards. Now it’s time to look at the end of Paul’s life.

In this passage of 2 Timothy that we’re about to read, where Paul is describing the end of his life, I want you to notice that all of the things we’ve mentioned about rewards are present in these verses, including:

Reward comes to those who sacrifice status here for the sake of righteousness
Reward comes to those who endure the trials which shape them into conformity to the image of Christ.
Reward comes to those who tend to that which has been planted in them.
Reward comes to those whose lives of faithfulness produce in others, lives of faithfulness.
Reward comes to those who share the gospel.
Reward comes to those who serve those overlooked by the world.

You’ll see all six of those points in the following passage:

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12)

I asked you at the beginning of this sermon whether you desire to live a godly life. I’m not aware of any verse in Scripture that states the Christian life is like taking a vacation with your best friend. No, it’s like this (Paul continues):

Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse,¹³ deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.¹⁴ All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead,¹⁵ and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled,¹⁶ they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.¹⁷

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.¹⁸ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Timothy 3:13–4:8)

How do we love His appearing? We live as if He is going to appear today.

Now here’s where it gets real—Paul adds:

Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.¹⁹ Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.

At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:9–18)

It’s pretty obvious that our greatest reward does not come in this life. Paul, the servant of Christ, is about to exit, cold and lonely, but devoted to His calling. Bring me my books, Timothy. Bring me my coat, preferably before winter. I think Timothy probably gets a reward for bringing the coat. And you and I are going to have our opportunities to gain heavenly reward just like they did. It could be in an action as simple as bringing a coat or packing a can of soup in a bag. Or you might have the opportunity to go out as a martyr, to be an evangelist.

We won’t know all our opportunities, but we’re grateful for the ways in which the Bible illustrates some of these things for us. We didn’t cover them all.

Finally, here’s the most direct application: Serve your fellow believers at GraceLife or whatever church you attend, and share the gospel with someone who doesn’t attend your local church.

Please don’t seek comfortable church (“I like the way the music and the pastor make me feel”). Rather, seek righteousness. Sacrifice for each other. Sow goodness into one another and tend to that which is sown. Tend to that which has been planted. Do some weed control.

Be mindful of pests. Endure trials and hard times with each other.

May these words adapted from the apostle Paul be your prayer:

Lord, help me to not lose heart, even amidst the decay of that which is worldly. May I dwell upon the daily renewal of that which is spiritual. I know that affliction is momentary and light and is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. Help me to look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. May I turn from the temporal and focus upon the unseen things which are eternal. I thank You for Your words about eternal judgment and eternal rewards. Amen.²⁰

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