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The Eternal Reward Of Reaching Out, November 22
When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt
be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
Luke 14:13, 14
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It is the reward of Christ’s workers to enter into His joy. That joy, to which
Christ Himself looks forward with eager desire, is presented in His request to His
Father, “I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.”
The angels were waiting to welcome Jesus, as He ascended after His resurrec-
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tion. The heavenly host longed to greet again their loved Commander, returned
to them from the prison house of death. Eagerly they pressed about Him as He
entered the gates of heaven. But He waved them back. His heart was with the
lonely, sorrowing band of disciples whom He had left upon Olivet. It is still with
His struggling children on earth, who have the battle with the destroyer yet to
wage. “Father,” He says, “I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with
me where I am.”
Christ’s redeemed ones are His jewels, His precious and peculiar treasure.
“They shall be as the stones of a crown” “the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints.” In them “he shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.”
And will not His workers rejoice when they, too, behold the fruit of their
labors? ...
Every impulse of the Holy Spirit leading men to goodness and to God is noted
in the books of heaven, and in the day of God everyone who has given himself as
an instrument for the Holy Spirit’s working will be permitted to behold what his
life has wrought.
Wonderful will be the revealing as the lines of holy influence, with their
precious results, are brought to view. What will be the gratitude of souls that
will meet us in the heavenly courts, as they understand the sympathetic, loving
interest which has been taken in their salvation! All praise, honor, and glory will
be given to God and to the Lamb for our redemption; but it will not detract from
the glory of God to express gratitude to the instrumentality He has employed in
the salvation of souls ready to perish.
The redeemed will meet and recognize those whose attention they have directed
to the uplifted Saviour. What blessed converse they have with these souls! “I was
a sinner,” it will be said, ... “and you came to me, and drew my attention to the
precious Saviour as my only hope. And I believed in Him.” ... What rejoicing
there will be as these redeemed ones meet and greet those who have had a burden
in their behalf!
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