Seek the Lord while He may be found

Romans 2:7: "To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life."

When Paul talks in this letter to the Romans about "glory and honor and immortality" resulting from our good works, he is certainly not referring to those rewards in an Earthly sense. Far from it. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states that it is “by grace that one is saved.  It is the gift of God, not earned by works, so that no one can boast.”

So, then, what is Romans 2:7 telling us, since we clearly cannot earn our way into heaven? Let’s look at it this way. God’s grace is the entry ticket to heaven; it is His gift to us. Jesus has said that no one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). In other words, Jesus is the doorman.  Jesus also told his disciples that his Father’s house has many rooms and he has come to prepare a place for them.  Once we enter heaven, there are many rooms and our reward of a place or room will be based on the works that we did to honor and glorify God while on Earth. First God saves us; then he later rewards us because we honored him in recognition of His saving grace.  This is taught to us through His word.

Of particular importance is to do works that honor God and avoid those done to glorify ourselves. If we are patient and selective, God will work within us to identify works worthy and honoring of him and help steer us from those that are done to bring attention and recognition to ourselves.

Prayer: 

Father, you have told us that you are the truth and the way and the life and that those who have accepted you in faith will enter heaven. Now we are reminded that once we have come to you in faith, we should patiently and deliberately focus our efforts on works that glorify you rather than on ones that bring recognition to ourselves. We so appreciate that there are rooms in heaven for believers who glorify you with their lives while on Earth. Thank you for your son who taught us these things.

This devotion was written by Roger Wilson and read by Judy Wilson.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.