The hundred-fold reward
Who would not like to receive a hundred-fold return on an investment? Can you imagine? Hundred percent increase on your investment in a company or a product? How great would that be?
Well, Jesus offered it to those who would give up anything for His Name’s sake and follow Him. It’s hard to believe that it can happen because the best bank rates or share profits in the world cannot compete with His offer.
A rich young man approached Jesus and boasted that he kept the whole law. He did not kill people, he did not steal, he did not commit adultery, he honoured his father and mother, he brought no false witness against anyone, and he wanted to know what else he had to do to inherit eternal life.
The scripture tells us how Jesus loved that young man. But he told him that he lacked one thing: ‘sell what you have, give to the poor and come and follow Me.’ When the rich young man heard this, he turned away sadly because he possessed so many things.
This caused Jesus to comment: ‘it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’
Peter heard what Jesus said and immediately asked what about the twelve disciples that gave up everything to follow Him? Jesus told him: ‘you will sit on twelve thrones with me in the new world and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Whoever forsakes houses, lands, family for My sake shall receive hundred-fold in this life and in the life to come eternal life.’ He also said they would receive persecution.
Somehow people do not like it when God blesses someone else. They persecute the ones that receive blessings from God. They find fault with them as if God made a mistake to bless them. They spread rumours about them and slander them to hurt them. But the blessings of God make rich and add no sorrow to it. God will defend the ones He decides to bless.
My dad sold his lucrative steel and iron factory in Alrode and gave his 50% share of his estate agency to his partner when God called him into the full-time ministry. He used that money to support us as a family in the ministry. Two weeks before he passed away, he told me, ‘My son, I have no regrets. What I did was my decision and I do not regret it, because I did it for the Lord.’ Very few people can say they have no regrets at the end of their lives.
Nola and I have followed in my parents’ footsteps by doing the same. God has been faithful to carry us through our lives as missionaries. Forsaking anything for the Gospel’s sake is the best investment you can make because it has repayments not only in this life but in the life to come! There is a new world coming. It pays to be rich towards God! He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Believe God exists and that He is a Rewarder – in this life and in the life to come: one hundred-fold rewards!
What a wonderful prospect! What an advantageous investment to give towards the spreading of the Gospel. God said, ‘I am the Lord your God who gives you the ability to create wealth so that you can establish My covenant in the earth.’ That is why God prospers people: to spread His eternal Gospel!
Solomon said, ‘there are those who scatter abroad and yet increase, but there are those who keep back more than is necessary and it tends to poverty.’
I met a businessman in Shenzhen, China, that gave a whole block of buildings for the training of preachers in the underground movement, and he told me how God blessed him afterwards. Another man from Ndola, Zambia told me how he built a church for his pastor and how God blessed his business to make him a billionaire! There are many testimonies of hundred-fold blessings that confirm the promise Jesus made to anyone who is willing to give towards the Gospel that we cannot deny the validity of His statement. He will make it come true for you as well if you are willing to do as He says.
Andre Pelser
No comments:
Post a Comment