Oh What a Surprise There Will Be

Mark 14:8 – “She hath done what she could….”

Men look at the quantity, but God also observes the quality of our efforts. The two mites the widow cast into the treasury appeared to most as insignificant, but they loomed large in the eyes of Jesus – because she gave all she had (Mark 12:43-44). The small loaves and fishes of the lad in John 6 seemed unimportant, but it was all the lad possessed and in Jesus’ hands grew to a mountain of food. When the rewards are given at the Judgement Seat of Christ, it will not only be the quantity of our works, but also the quality of our works which will be judged. Paul says in 1 Cor. 3:13 – “…the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” It is the SORT – not the amount that is most important.

As an obscure Christian woman lay dying, she lamented to her pastor how little she had been able to do for Jesus. She had no formal education, but worked in a factory saving every penny possible to send to missions. It wasn’t much, but she did what she could. After work she visited the sick – often doing their washing and ironing at night. As she faced her final moments here on earth, she exclaimed, “Oh I’ve been able to do so little for the Lord. I never made much money to give, for all I could do was common labor.”
Looking at her arthritic hands, deformed by hard work, the pastor gently said, “Beloved sister, when you stand before the Lord, just show Him your toil worn hands! He rewards, not primarily for quantity, but for quality!” That Christian woman had done what she could; the Lord asks no more.

Oh what a surprise there will be when the rewards are handed out!