Ephesians 1:3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

Will God bless or reward us if we have faith in Him, get close to Him, and please Him? This question is at the root of most religious activity throughout the world. People have worshiped, built edifices and made sacrifices down through the ages with the hope that some god would grant their desires. Even with thousands of years of experience behind us most people still wonder if God even notices.

God’s word has much to say about the rewards of knowing and pleasing God. It tells us that things like weather patterns, crop yields, finances, health, and relationships are affected. It clearly states that His attitude toward us determines whether He hears our requests. 1 John 3:21 Dear friends, if our conscience doesn’t condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight.

The scripture we opened this article with in Ephesians 1:3 makes it clear that our blessings are in Jesus Christ. We are only able to access God through Him as we discussed in an earlier post (Can We get Close to God?). It also points out that our real rewards for pleasing God are spiritual. While we may obtain many physical benefits from God, we must understand that they are minor in comparison to the spiritual blessings because the physical ones are temporary. What ever we receive from God in this life will only last for a time. Spiritual rewards are eternal. There is an old saying, “You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer”. No matter what we accumulate in life it stops at the grave. Luke 12:16 Then He told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? 18 I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. 19 Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’

You may be wondering, what are these spiritual blessings? The preeminent blessing is eternal life. For the one who pleases God through faith in Jesus Christ, life doesn’t end at physical death. We have eternity to enjoy the goodness and fellowship of God.  This is contrasted against the second death, which is eternal separation from God in hell for those who don’t know Him. 1 John 3: 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands. 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him. We are also told of eternal rewards for our service to God. 1 Corinthians 3:11 For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire. Another blessing will be to live with God in His kingdom. We will live in a place without corruption, evil, deceit, or sorrow. We are promised peace, joy, abundance and love. John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you.

Yes, if we draw close to God and please Him through Jesus Christ, we will be blessed in this life and more importantly, eternally. God does reward the faithful and those who seek Him with diligence. All journeys begin with a step. The journey to know God begins with a step of faith. Hebrews 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.

Father, I pray for everyone who reads the words of this series. I ask that they will take a step of faith to know You through Your Son Jesus Christ. Enlighten them by your Holy Spirit. Let them encounter the true and living God. Amen.

This concludes a series of four articles beginning with Faith in God. They are listed at the bottom of this post under Did you miss these posts?. I hope you will read all four to get the maximum benefit. We will begin a new subject in the next issue and hope you will join us. Please share any comments below and use the follow option to keep up with future posts.

* All scripture is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible