In
one of our Wednesday night services at church the reading was from Luke
16:19-31, the story of a rich man and a beggar. The rich man lived in luxury and Lazarus,
a beggar, would lie at the rich man’s gate longing to eat what was left from
the rich man’s table. When the beggar died, the angels took him to sit at
Abraham’s side. When the rich man died and was in hell, he looked up and saw
Lazarus by Abraham’s side. The rich man asked Abraham to have Lazarus come and
quench his thirst. Abraham
replied, by reminding Lazarus that in his lifetime he received good things and Lazarus
received bad things. Now Lazarus is comforted in Heaven and the rich man is in in
agony.
As I was reflecting on this story, the question that came to my mind was…Are we living
well, so we can die well?
When
God blesses us, do we take those blessings and keep them selfishly for
ourselves, or are we choosing to take those blessings and bless others?
God
gave us free will and the ability to make our own choices. He wanted
to experience true love from His created...US! He created us for His pleasure
and that pleasure wouldn’t be achieved if we were programmed like robots to
love Him. God wants our unconditional love. He wants us to love Him
willingly.
How do we achieve life’s ultimate reward?
By surrendering our life to Him and living the life He intended us to live.
When I do leadership training and
development, we ask leaders…how do you want to be remembered? What leadership
legacy do you want to leave?
I think we should ask the same
questions as we look to achieve life’s reward of Heaven…How do you want to be
remembered? What legacy do you want to leave? And most important, who does He
want you to be? What purpose were we sent to achieve?
In the book, Choose Joy: FindingHope and Purpose When Life Hurts, my sister Sara talks about the life goals
that she chose for herself. They were goals of how she wanted to live in her
spirit and she wished she would’ve made these goals when she was well and able
bodied…
To not be ashamed to stand before God.
To fulfill God’s plan by living the best life I can
with what I am given.
To be aware and present in every moment.
To love what I have and not yearn for what I lack.
To spread the joy and not the fear
To be intentional in all things.
Throughout our life, God rewards us with many
blessings and the ultimate reward for our life is one day sitting at His right
hand. How we live out our life will determine if we achieve life’s ultimate
reward.
Surrender your life to Him and you will have life’s
ultimate reward with Him.