The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. Matthew 10:41,42
It is so tempting to compare ourselves to others, to look at the way others are serving God, and we usually come up lacking. We consider our friends and role models who seem to be doing far more than we are in terms of living a life of godliness and humble service. Their talents and gifts - not to mention their spiritual disposition - seem vastly superior to ours. We see ministers and missionaries and, not only do we see ourselves as “way behind them”, it seems they are in a league all their own! We conclude that we are inferior and consequently we strive to “try harder” or maybe we just give up.
Surely this is not what God wants us to do!
Instead, let us consider how God’s economy works. First of all, know that His economy for His children works according to His character. His character is generous and loving, gracious and kind - not harsh and ruthless. Therefore, He “evaluates” us according to His mercy and goodness and His rewards are given lavishly.
Next, He considers what only He can measure - our heart. The scope of our deeds is far less significant than the heart behind them.
Lastly, in God’s economy, every single thing that is worth any eternal value is only possible because of His grace working through us. It has nothing to do with our merit, our strength, our abilities - whatever we do for Him is like giving Him a gift that we bought with His money (sounds like the Mother’s Day presents we “gave” to our Moms as kids :) )
His value system is far different than what we are accustomed to. Luke 14:12-14 tells us He considers showing hospitality to the “rejects” as worthy of treasure. Matthew 5:10-12 says that He highly values and rewards persecution for the sake of being righteous. Matthew 6:1-18 explains that religious activities like praying, fasting, giving done in secret where only He is aware of them are highly prized by our Father. And Matthew 19:29 assures us that the costly sacrifices required for the sake of the Gospel are not only noticed by Him but also exponentially rewarded. The things done for the applause of men will receive only that - the praise of men on earth, nothing from our Heavenly Father (Matthew 6). But the things done for the praise of the Father, those things that His Word urges our obedience on, these things are indeed seen by Him.
Matthew 10:41,42 shows us that even a cup of cold water given to a little one can have eternal significance. In Jesus’s day, a cup of cold water took some effort. There was no dispenser on the fridge for easy access! It required a trip to the well so it seems that the acts that require us to go to some trouble, especially for the “little ones”(those who appear insignificant” are greatly valued and will receive reward. The rest of this passage is astounding: God considers “behind the scenes work” - the things done so that others can do what God has called them to do - to be deserving of the same reward as the “in front of the scenes work”. Incredible.
Ponder for a moment the implications of this. Our lavish Father promises to reward the church parking lot attendants the same as the man in the pulpit they are clearing the way for folks to hear. The gal in the sound booth’s rewards will be on par with the worship pastor. The widow on a fixed income can expect the same reward as those she financially supports on the mission field. And the Mommy cheerfully dispensing a cup of juice to her little ones is performing sacred work, deserving the highest of Heavenly rewards!
What glorious truth!