While on the Death Star in ANH, Luke tries to talk Han into rescuing the Princess by teasing him, “the reward would be…”
By trailing off at the end, he gets Han to ask, “What?” To which Luke replies, “Well, more wealth than you can imagine.”
We as Christians need to focus on our reward in heaven as being much more than we can possibly imagine.
We are not doing anything to earn our salvation, as Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Scripture points out in multiple places that we will be rewarded based on the works we have done in this life.
In Matthew 16:27, Jesus is talking to His disciples when He says, “For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done.”
Jesus tells us the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. The servants were given five and two talents, respectively, doubled what they were given and were rewarded, verses 21 and 23. But the servant given one went and hid his, only to be called a “wicked and slothful servant” in verse 26.
We read in 1 Corinthians 3:14-15, “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.”
One way we can make it through the trials Jesus told us would come (John 16:13) is to focus on our ultimate rewards in heaven and, as Hebrews 12:2 tells us, to keep “looking to Jesus, the Founder, and Perfecter of our faith.”
