As we live our lives, many of us go day to day as if our actions will not have a significant impact. We often assume that our daily decisions are insignificant and will hold no significance in the future. The truth, however, is that Scripture teaches something entirely different. According to Scripture, one day, followers of Christ will be rewarded when we stand before God one day. Those rewards will be based on how we lived here on this earth. This truth means that our decisions, actions, and words every day are significant because they will impact how we are rewarded as we stand before God one day.
The apostle Paul described the day when we will stand before God and be rewarded by Him in 1st Corinthians 3. In this passage of Scripture, Paul described Jesus Christ as the very foundation of our faith. He explained that “anyone who builds” on the foundation of Christ, “may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw” (verse 12). Each one of us uses our unique gifts, talents, and abilities in various ways to make an impact for Him. As we seek to know Christ and make Christ known by the way we live our lives, every gift, talent, and ability that we each bring to the table is important and significant. As Paul continued writing about building on the foundation of Christ, he shifted the focus to judgment day, where we will stand before God and give an account for how we lived our lives. On that day, Paul wrote that “fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, the builder will receive a great reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames” (verses 13-15). Based on this teaching from Paul, the way we live our lives will have a great impact. If we choose to leverage everything we have and make an impact for Him with our lives, we will be rewarded one day as we stand before the God of the universe. If not, we will be gravely disappointed and “suffer great loss,” realizing that we did not make the most of our lives.
Make no mistake, my friend. The decisions we make today, the way we treat the people around us today, and the things we say and do today are significant because they matter for eternity. One day, we will stand before God and be rewarded (or not rewarded) based on how we lived our lives here on earth. May we live each day with the end in mind, making every effort to live so that we can stand before God with confidence knowing we did not waste even one day as we sought to make an impact for Him.
In the midst of our routines and busy schedules, it is easy to forget the significance of each day. We can easily forget that how we live today, in this moment, will matter for eternity. Memorize 1st Corinthians 3:12-13 today. Let these verses be a reminder to you every day that the words we say, the decisions we make, and the things we do matter, because one day we will be rewarded based on how we lived our lives.
“God,I want to make the most of this life You have given me. Use me…”
Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world?
5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.
10 Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.
16 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
18 Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,
“He traps the wise
in the snare of their own cleverness.”
20 And again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise;
he knows they are worthless.”
21 So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Peter,[f] or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
