What Are The Rewards For Being A Good Christian? (John 15.1-2)

What is the reward for being a good Christian?

In politics, if you do a good job, you are usually rewarded with the opportunity to run for a higher office. If you do a good job on a sport’s team, you are usually rewarded with a starting position or more playing time. Success in the business world often ends up with promotions and salary increases. In almost all organizations, doing well is rewarded with more responsibility, more perks, and more pay.

So what are the rewards for doing well as a follower of Christ?

In John 15, Jesus described the rewards for bearing fruit (or doing well): to be pruned by the Father so that we can bear more fruit. Is that really a reward? According to the dictionary, to prune means “to reduce especially by eliminating superfluous matter.” Does that sound rewarding to you? One website I found taught this principle about pruning grapevines: “If left unattended, grapevines can become unruly, and fruiting will be poor due to overproduction of vegetation.” Best I can tell, the excess vegetation is pruned away from the vine so that the vine’s energy and nutrients go towards the fruit instead of being wasted on the excess vegetation.

How different this is from the way the world rewards a job well done. The world rewards with the excess vegetation of nicer offices, more money, and better perks. The Lord rewards by removing excess vegetation so that more fruit bearing can take place. The only thing that makes this kind of pruning endurable is knowing that our excess vegetation is in the hands of the Father who knows what He is doing.

So, if you are being pruned today, rest in the love and care of your divine Vinedresser who is rewarding your fruit bearing by doing whatever it takes to make you even more fruitful. And when He decides that the vegetation you deem essential is actually “superfluous matter,” consider it an opportunity to exercise your faith and trust in the loving and wise hands of the Master Gardner.