Why Nothing You Give Up for Christ is Ever Lost

Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – July 11, 2017

By Shana Schutte

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.   Galatians 2:20

In 2012 while I was still single, God called me to relocate to a city far from my family. I was excited about the opportunity to serve but felt some grief because I have moved many times over the years and being close to loved ones had become more important to me. But I was confident God was leading me to uproot and like Abraham, to go.

When the Lord made the move clear, first I cheered with excitement, and then I cried. Afterward, He took me to Mark 10:29-30 in which Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age and in the age to come, eternal life.” This Scripture, as well as 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 reminded me that God notices all the work we do for him and also reminded me that those who know Christ will be rewarded in heaven for what they do on earth.

“If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)

Isn’t it awesome that God, who is a good master, will pay back those who belong to him for works well done after they go home? He takes nothing from the Christian without making multiplied restoration in a new and glorious form. When I embrace these truths, difficulties take on eternal meaning and I am bolstered with confidence that nothing in this world can really shake me, because nothing that I give up for Christ will ever be lost. Every sacrifice will be ultimately redeemed.

Joy! In Christ, we win and the story ends very, very well.

Perhaps this knowledge is why Corrie ten Boom, the beloved author, evangelist, and concentration camp victim who traveled for over thirty years telling the world about Jesus, said that material things would never be important to her again after her time in Ravensbruck. Corrie had stood at death’s door, and when she did, heaven’s priorities became illuminated.

There is an internal freedom that comes when we realize that what we do here matters for forever, and because it matters for forever, absolutely no earthly happening will ever be able to destroy us. Nothing will ultimately ruin us. No disappointment will keep us down—and nothing that we give up for Jesus will be lost. Not when we give up a job, a home we love, or loved ones as we move across the country and say goodbye. In the end, we win.

What have you given up for Christ? You can be confident that He notices. And, when you work for Him, you are storing up for yourself treasure in heaven that can never be destroyed.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).

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