Passage Read: Revelation 7-8
Meditation Verses: 7:14-15
Thought
This last generation of believers who must endure the great tribulation are given what seems to be special status and reward: They are like the priests of old who stand in the presence of God forever, who never leave His sight, who serve the Lord most closely and dwell in His own house forever. Other believers can come and go, and serve and worship Him as often as they like, but they don't get to stand in His presence at all times, they have other duties to attend to. This suggests to me a couple things: The great tribulation will truly be worse than anything mankind has seen or done to believers at any other time in history. And standing in the presence of God and serving Him day and night is far more amazing than anything I could ever dream.
Application
There are some rewards all believers share, like eternal life itself and the privilege of seeing the Lord in all His glory to worship Him. But there are also greater and lesser rewards, according to what we have done for the Lord, according to how we have used our lives more or less for the Lord. There is reason and reward for being more ambitious for the Kingdom of God. There is a race. There is a competition to "outdo one another" in showing love and serving the Lord's goals. Some thrones will be higher than others, but they will be given to those who have come to understand the heart of the Lord best, who can be entrusted to exercise such authority as God wants it done. Those who don't care to know or serve the Lord at all, who only want His salvation likely won't be saved at all. Those who try to know Him a little and serve Him a little will end up with little in eternity, but they will have salvation. Those who give up everything to follow and serve Him, will be given much in return. God is a rewarding God, and the greatest reward is in fact Himself. But the greatest rewards are given to those who sacrifice the most for the Lord and His Kingdom. So what am I willing to suffer? What would I like to gain? How glorious and precious is God to me? I want to see Him as far more valuable than I do today.