“… each one’s work will become manifest; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.

— 1 Corinthians 3:13–14

Let us get it clear once and for all: Heaven is a “free gift,” not an “earned reward.” I once saw a pamphlet with this question on the cover: “What must you do to go to heaven?” I opened it up, and the inside was blank. This pamphlet clearly communicated the message that we can do nothing to earn our salvation. Jesus has already paid the price in full for you and for me. Isn’t that an incredible truth?

We can’t save ourselves through good deeds, but we can do good works as a way of thanking God for our salvation. The Bible says that God will reward us in Heaven for these works of thanksgiving. Scripture doesn’t tell us what rewards we’ll receive, but it does tell us how to earn them. God sets aside rewards for those who experience persecution for Christ’s sake (Matthew 5:12). He also rewards those who are good stewards of the things God has given to them (Matthew 25:21). God has also planned special rewards for those who love their enemies (Luke 6:35) and especially for those who faithfully witness to others (John 4:35–36).

Keep in mind that at the Final Judgment the fire will try our works to see which will last as heavenly rewards. According to the Bible, some of us build with gold, silver, and precious stones, while others of us build with wood, hay, and stubble. Through the fire, the gold, silver, and precious stones will remain, but the wood, hay, and stubble will go up in smoke. The worst disaster that could befall a human being is to lose his or her soul, but those of us who believe in Jesus’ gift needn’t fear that fate. However, we may face the second-worst disaster—watching all the work of our lifetimes burned up in the fire at the Final Judgment (1 Corinthians 3:15).

Are you investing your time this day to make an eternal impact? Are you building with gold, silver, and precious stone or with wood, hay, and stubble? I encourage you to do good deeds with eternity in mind, so that at the Final Judgment you may receive the best reward of all—hearing God say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

“The only test that really matters in life is that ultimate one,
which will test the quality of our life’s work.”

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

— 2 Corinthians 3:17

Are you ever confused about what’s right and wrong in our world today? You’re not alone. Part of the problem is a confusion between liberty (which we could define as the freedom to do right) and license (which we could define as the freedom to do wrong).

Our salvation is not a license to sin. It is a deliverance from sin. When Jesus first began His public ministry, what did He say? Repent. Though we have saving faith in Christ, we must still turn from sin and to God. The apostle John writes, “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15), for loving the world is antithetical to loving the Father.

Neither God nor the founders of this country intended for anyone to abuse liberty as license. However, today many openly confuse liberty with license to do whatever their desires lead them to do. Sin has become flagrant in our society. Many people today look upon Christianity as an impediment to their “freedom,” that is, their freedom to sin. But these people have transformed liberty into license, and in the worst form of licentiousness, they don’t want anybody speaking against their actions or in any way restraining them. Ironically, claiming freedom to do whatever they want, these people are actually in bondage to their sinful natures, for whoever sins is a slave to sin. But Christ came to free us from sin and from the penalty of sin. Let’s walk, then, in that liberty today by yielding ourselves to Him afresh.

“He is the best friend of American liberty who is most sincere
and active in promoting pure and undefiled religion.”
John Witherspoon

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

— Ephesians 2:8–9

Have you ever tried to explain to someone what the word “faith” means? If you have, then you know that it’s a difficult concept to explain. Here’s a story that might help others understand the meaning of faith.

It was a dark night on the main road from Jackson to Vicksburg, Mississippi. It had rained heavily, but the storm had finally broken, and the pavement was not so slippery. A truck driver traveled down that stretch of highway, and since conditions had improved, he began to relax a bit. Suddenly he saw the twin taillights of the car in front of him melt into the road and disappear. The truck driver bolted upright with his startled eyes wide open. Such a thing could not happen. In the next fraction of a second, he saw the gaping black hole where once a bridge had spanned the river. The truck driver slammed on his brakes, and the wheels stopped instantly, but there was no longer a road beneath them. His truck sailed silently and eerily into the black void before him. As the truck sank into the water, the driver broke out the window, got out of the truck, and managed to swim to shore. Like a dripping scarecrow, he scrambled up the embankment to the road. As he climbed, he heard one car after another zoom smoothly into the gap and disappear. The only trace was a booming splash preceded by startled shrieks or cries. Finally, the truck driver made his way to the road and frantically waved his hands at the oncoming cars in the dark. But they did not stop. Sixteen people died that night because they had faith in a bridge that was no longer there.

In life, we maintain faith in many bridges—the bridge of successful achievements, the bridge of good deeds, the bridge of “I tried as hard as I could”—but all of these bridges are out. Faith in Christ is the only bridge we can rely on. It’s the only bridge that will get us across the river of temptation, the river of trial and affliction, the river of sin and guilt, the river of death. Without the bridge of faith in Jesus Christ, the dark waters would swallow up every one of us. As a survivor, will you warn others about the bridges that are out? You may be the only signal of the danger ahead.

“To believe in Christ is initial faith …
to assimilate Him is active faith.”
Cornelius Woelfkin

“… these words which I command you today shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

— Deuteronomy 6:6–7

Are you ever discouraged with your children? Let me encourage those of you who have children or hope to have children someday—whatever challenges you face in parenting, don’t ever give up. “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.” This familiar saying contains a Biblical truth: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Knowing how much parents love their children in all their moods and phases, God has given parents the responsibility for “bending the twig,” for training children in all aspects of life.

Surprising as it may seem, the American habit of sending children to public schools with the expectation that the schools will teach them everything is a relatively recent development. From the time the Pilgrims landed in the early 1600s to the middle of the nineteenth century, parents maintained responsibility for their children’s education. When public education first began, parents didn’t need to worry about what the schools would teach their children because, for the first hundred years, the curriculum included Bible reading and prayers. Today, I am sad to say, our society has allowed the eradication of both of these.

Because we can no longer rely upon the school system to support our Christian views, we must work even harder to ensure that our children grow in Christ. How do we bend the twig? Our children need a God-centered education, one that teaches sound moral principles, emphasizes their creation in God’s image, and presents the salvation message. They need to have high academic standards set for them and to have direction toward attaining these standards through discipline that includes guidelines, boundaries, and rewards. And we need to teach our children patriotism. Though our country has many flaws, it is still the most blessed nation on earth.

So don’t give up. Keep bending the twig. If you do, you will one day have a tree that stands tall and bears much fruit for God’s glory.

“Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Thou art the potter; I am the clay. Mold me and make
me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.”
Adelaide Pollard

… Unlike those high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices—first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for He did this once for all when He offered up Himself.

— Hebrews 7:27

There were priests in the Old Testament, but now Christ, our great High Priest has come. He completed the work that they could only begin.

With a priest and an altar you have something else: you have a sacrifice. For hundreds of years, at God’s instruction, the ancient Hebrew priests offered sacrifices with many specific guidelines. There were daily sacrifices and specific annual offerings. They may have “forgiven” sins temporarily, but never permanently.

All of these sacrifices foreshadowed the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. What He did is the basis for all forgiveness. His blood was much more precious than that of bulls and goats.

Read Hebrews 9-11 and you will notice that one word appears over and over and over again. It is a word that I recommend you underline. It is “once” or “one.” By one sacrifice Christ has forever reconciled us to God. There was only one sacrifice, and it took place upon the Cross 2,000 years ago. On that finished sacrifice all of our hopes are founded.

Question to ponder:
What does it mean that our High Priest offered Himself up “once for all”?

… weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

— Psalm 30:5

Sorrow, sadness, and weeping are all part of this life. None of us are untouched by the troubles of the world. But these are temporary—whereas joy, for the Christian, is everlasting. 

One time at a speaking engagement in Indianapolis, a man came up to me and said, “I was down in Ft. Lauderdale on vacation, and I met a lady in your church who shared with me those good tidings of great joy.” She had told him of the Gospel and he had accepted Christ. He continued: “You certainly cannot know, you cannot imagine the indescribable joy I have known for the last year since I came to know Christ. I never would have believed it.”

It is never recorded once that Jesus ever laughed, and yet the night before He went to the agony of the Cross, He said, “I have spoken these to you, that My joy may remain in you” (John 15:11). He came from the source of all joy—from Heaven—and He came to bring that joy to us. He took all of our sorrows and our griefs upon Himself, and thus, though He never laughed that we know of, He did weep. And He wept, so that we might be glad.

Question to ponder:
What difference does it make that sadness is temporary?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 5:3

To be poor in spirit is to recognize that you are spiritually needy. It is to see that in ourselves we are poor and in need of a savior.

Christ came—not with pomp and circumstance, not with royal splendor, not with power, not with armies, but into a family with a great lineage: however, one that had fallen into poverty. He grew up in the home of a carpenter. He grew up in a city that was a byword: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46 NKJV).

He grew up with no education, and yet He was the wisest person who ever lived. He grew up, astonishingly, with no background. He exited that town, which was nothing, walked up on a hill, and there delivered the greatest discourse on human ethics the world has ever heard—the Sermon on the Mount. It has never been equaled and certainly never excelled.

The humble carpenter spread His blessings all over the world and taught us that humility is a virtue.

Question to ponder:
What is the relationship between having spiritual riches and being poor in spirit?

They feared greatly and said to one another, “What kind of Man is He, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

— Mark 4:41

We see something of the Deity of Christ and His uniqueness in the fact that He never bothered to trouble Himself to explain His frequently ambiguous conduct. For example, Jesus was asleep in the back of a boat in the midst of a great storm. Waves were breaking over the sides of the boat and the disciples were paralyzed with fear. They cried, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38).

“Well, I’m sorry fellows. If you had only awakened me earlier, I would have tried to help, but you see, it’s been such a long day and I was so tired. I just had to get some rest.”

No. He didn’t say anything like that. He simply said, “Peace, be still.” The waves ceased and the wind stopped. That is not the way any other man lives his life.

Jesus can calm the storms of our lives. The wind and the waves still obey His voice. He still calms storms.

Question to ponder:
What storm are you possibly experiencing in your life that you need to take to Jesus to calm?

There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

— Acts 4:12

There are many today who would say that there are innumerable doors that lead to spiritual safety. My friend, there is but one. There was but one door into the ark of Noah; there is but one door into the ark of Christ, and that is the door of faith—the faith of the Cross. The door of the ark of Christ is cruciform: it is shaped like a Cross. He is the one and only place of safety in this world, our only sanctuary from the stormy blast that God has said will come upon the world. Other religions have teachers. Only Christianity has a Savior.

Because He is the only savior, His name is so precious to His saints. The name is whispered over a cradle and to the dying. The name of Jesus is praised by millions in worship. His name gives comfort and peace. It stills the storms around us and conquers our fears within. It is the most beautiful name in the world.

Question to ponder:
Why do you love the name of Jesus?

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

— John 14:1

Will my life count for something? This question has perplexed the minds of thinking men and women from time immemorial: What will be the outcome of my life? Men have wondered whether their lives would end in triumph or tragedy.

Life is a probation; it is also an education and a school. The tragedy is that the vast majority of people in America, as well as in other lands, don’t even know the one central lesson God is trying to teach them in the school they are attending—the school of life.

The lesson is this: God says “Trust Me.” Throughout the Scriptures, from one end to another, God is teaching people the great lesson of faith—to trust Him amidst all of the vicissitudes of life.

Every class is the same in every subject we go through—Trust 101. Some of us do not go any further, and others have learned to trust Him in virtually all things.

Question to ponder:
A life of triumph is a life of trust. How can you better trust Him today?