This is the correct motive, and intention God wants?

As He Says, Do What Is Right, No Matter What.

JohnB445 said:

There are rewards in heaven for our deeds, described as precious stones.

But God wants our motive out of love for him, and not solely just for the reward right?

I believe so. The way I think of it, if I do it just for the reward then it doesn't count and its wrong to do things just for the reward.

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there is nothing wrong with rewards, there a great blessing from our father who loves us and wants us to be happy.

Dont question rewards, just except them, dont entitle them as there gifts.

But you are right, if all your doing is looking for a gift with no love then what good is that gift? A reward is something given to motivate us to do good works for others.

JohnB445 said:

There are rewards in heaven for our deeds, described as precious stones.

But God wants our motive out of love for him, and not solely just for the reward right?

I believe so. The way I think of it, if I do it just for the reward then it doesn't count and its wrong to do things just for the reward.

Click to expand...

Hi, if you would bare with me and allow me to be so bold;

Only self is concerned about motives. The new creation does that which is right for no other reason than it is right.

The motives of why self try’s to do this or that thing, that it thinks is pleasing to God. Has no standing before God. If self is doing anything, it’s workings are just trying to establish a righteousness of its own. The motives of why self does whatever, are purely self doing what it does, elevating itself. For the doing matters not to God if self is doing the doing. If God is doing the doing, the motives are pure, for they come from the new creation or that which is born of God and sins not. Self or Christ are the two choices before man. All things emanate from one or the other. If it’s from self, regardless of what it may be, it’s sin. If it’s from Christ regardless of how large or small it has the blessing of God on it and the reward that follows the action.

(Forgive me for being so bold.)

Blessings

Much love in Christ, Not me

Spiritual rewards grow in us as we love God and neighbour. They bring us His good life and His peace. i see rewards more like spiritual dividends. For example we can believe we ought to be honest but still often use a lie or half truth in daily life, guilt, shame and fear will rule such hearts, or we can love to be honest and then we can take pride in Jesus for shaping us Anew within. Spiritual rewards confirm our faith to us. i say lets us all hotly pursue the spiritual gifts endowed by the Holy Spirit - the more God loving we are - and the more eager to walk our daily life with Him.

About what is to come? The words says that no one can conceive what God has in store for those who love Him, best not speculate too much about that but wait and see.

Peace.

JohnB445 said:

There are rewards in heaven for our deeds, described as precious stones.

But God wants our motive out of love for him, and not solely just for the reward right?

I believe so. The way I think of it, if I do it just for the reward then it doesn't count and its wrong to do things just for the reward.

Click to expand...

The reward is a eternal perfect life with God Almighty ... what that life will be like goes beyond our comprehension but it will be glorious.

"The way I think of it, if I do it just for the reward then it doesn't count and its wrong to do things just for the reward."

This is correct, this would then be considered a work from ourselves in an effort to obtain salvation.

God Bless.

JohnB445 said:

There are rewards in heaven for our deeds, described as precious stones.

But God wants our motive out of love for him, and not solely just for the reward right?

I believe so. The way I think of it, if I do it just for the reward then it doesn't count and its wrong to do things just for the reward.

Click to expand...

I think of the issue of Heavenly rewards a bit differently than most and differently than your post suggests. Since 'Salvation' is truly a free gift (see Corinthians 15 and Romans 5) and can not be earned or rejected, Heavenly rewards serve a different purpose than many assume.

Jesus' teachings indicate (see Sermon on the Mount) that Jesus established a higher level of spirituality than the original Laws of the Old Testament which Jesus said He fulfilled. Under that Law, righteousness was determined by how faithfully one attended to each specific law which applied to the individual. That is a rather low level of spirituality in that it doesn't require any consideration from the individual about how to live life. One simply had a check mark for each law or they didn't.

Jesus established His own and higher standard for righteousness. (See Two Great Commandments) In this higher standard of spirituality, we are not given a list of things to check off to claim righteousness. Rather we are given two goals for us to live by. The first is to Love God. The second is to treat others as we would want to be treated.

How we accomplish that is left to us. And that is where the Heavenly rewards come in. Again, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus compares Heavenly rewards to earthly treasure. Earthly treasure is used by all of us to make life on earth sustainable for the duration we are here. It is used to feed us, house us, transport us, etc. It is, in short, money.

In comparing Heavenly rewards to earthly money, I think Jesus is saying we have two choices in how we live our lives. We can follow His teachings of loving others as we love ourselves by living a life of self-sacrificing love for others and accumulate 'wealth' in Heaven or we can live a life of greed, selfishness and accumulate money here.

In either case, when we reach Heaven, our existence there will depend on how large our treasure chest of Heavenly rewards is when we get there. In short, Love is the 'money' in heaven.

Jesus summed it up nicely when He caught the Apostles speculating on which of them would be the greatest in heaven. He told them that the one who will be the greatest in heaven would be the one who was the servant to all on earth.

Practicing the higher level of spirituality taught by Jesus is how one builds that treasure in Heaven.

No one who remains greedy or selfish will ever enter heaven.

Paul said "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me"

So it depends completely on how old you are - there is nothing wrong with wanting rewards as a child, but in older age it looks foolish.

My faith gets put out by the problem Evolution poses to morality, precisely because it proposes that young or old,, have the same wisdom - however childish.

The caterpillar must give up caterpillar things and become the butterfly - is that a childish statement, with no old age equivalent? But the butterfly must remember putting the caterpillar away or fail to emerge??

JohnB445 said:

There are rewards in heaven for our deeds, described as precious stones.

But God wants our motive out of love for him, and not solely just for the reward right?

I believe so. The way I think of it, if I do it just for the reward then it doesn't count and its wrong to do things just for the reward.

Click to expand...

Love (charity/caritas/agape) is the necessary act for all success in this life and the next. In all relations with God, and with each other. If charity/love is always our focus (and motive), then reward comes by grace.

Matthew 22:36 Master, which commandment in the law is the greatest?37 Jesus said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy whole soul and thy whole mind. 38 This is the greatest of the commandments, and the first. 39 And the second, its like, is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments, all the law and the prophets depend.

And What is love/caritas/agape?

1 Corinthians 13:1 I may speak with every tongue that men and angels use; yet, if I lack charity, I am no better than echoing bronze, or the clash of cymbals. 2 I may have powers of prophecy, no secret hidden from me, no knowledge too deep for me; I may have utter faith, so that I can move mountains; yet if I lack charity, I count for nothing. 3 I may give away all that I have, to feed the poor; I may give myself up to be burnt at the stake; if I lack charity, it goes for nothing. 4 Charity is patient, is kind; charity feels no envy; charity is never perverse or proud, 5 never insolent; does not claim its rights, cannot be provoked, does not brood over an injury;6 takes no pleasure in wrong-doing, but rejoices at the victory of truth; 7 sustains, believes, hopes, endures, to the last. 8 The time will come when we shall outgrow prophecy, when speaking with tongues will come to an end, when knowledge will be swept away; we shall never have finished with charity. 9 Our knowledge, our prophecy, are only glimpses of the truth;10 and these glimpses will be swept away when the time of fulfilment comes. 11 (Just so, when I was a child, I talked like a child, I had the intelligence, the thoughts of a child; since I became a man, I have outgrown childish ways.) 12 At present, we are looking at a confused reflection in a mirror; then, we shall see face to face; now, I have only glimpses of knowledge; then, I shall recognize God as he has recognized me. 13 Meanwhile, faith, hope and charity persist, all three; but the greatest of them all is charity.

Take it from an old timer. When you get older none of these things will even cross your mind. You will be a sheep, blissfully unaware of rewards, works, motives, etc. if you endure. You will have long since placed your future in God's hands, not in your own. You will also have great peace knowing that if God doesn't choose to save you you will sleep for eternity, not roast on a spit in hell.

Doesn't take all that much thought.

There is enough reward in knowing you're holding your zone for the right team, 'way before you actually win the game.