One of the most disconcerting verses for the Christian is 1 Corinthians 3:15 - “If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire.” We're talking about appearing before Jesus where He will be issuing rewards pertaining to how faithful we were to Him during our Christian lives. There will be those who will not receive rewards. They will be saved...sins forgiven...clothed in Christ's righteousness...spending an eternity in heaven with God, but they won't be the recipient of rewards from the Master. I'm not sure how those “rewards” will be manifested in heaven for all eternity, but some will have them...some will not.
The question is - “What is the prerequisite for a reward? “Works” are apparently not the issue. Matthew 7:22 and 1 Corinthians 3:12 where some works are compared to “wood, hay, straw” are burnt up and deemed unrewardable. Then...what is the issue? The issue is summed up in Luke 14:33 - “no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possession.” This is not referring to austerity. It is referring to the preeminence of Jesus Christ in one's life. Unless He has taken over your life, your thinking, your allegiance, your greatest desires, there will be no rewards coming from the Lord. That is the “prerequisite.”

Today's My Utmost for His Highest speaks to this issue:

A disciple is one in whom the Holy Spirit has forged this realization: “I am not my own.” To say “I am not my own” is to have reached a point of great spiritual nobility. If I am a disciple, I make a sovereign decision to give myself over to Jesus Christ. Then the Holy Spirit comes in to teach me his nature. He teaches me this not so that I'll hold myself apart from others, like a showroom exhibit of holiness, but in order to make me one with my Lord. Until I am made one with him, he won't send me out.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children . . . such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Jesus doesn't say, “Such a person cannot be a good and moral individual.” He says, “Such a person cannot be one over whom I write the word mine.” This doesn't mean I won't be saved; it simply means I won't be his.

The spirit the disciple receives isn't the spirit of hard work or of doing practical things for Jesus. It's the spirit of love and devotion, of being a perfect delight to him. The secret of the disciple is “I am entirely his, and he is carrying out his work through me.”

Be entirely his.”

Jesus isn't interested in our works, He's interested in our devotion to Him. Webster uses words like: affection, passion, desire, respect, adoration, longing, loyalty, preference to describe what “devotion” is. Without our “devotion” to Jesus, our works will be burnt up without reward. Our devotion to Jesus must be of such great extent that we can say, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). Without that “prerequisite”...no reward.

My prayer for you and me this day is this: Lord, draw us close to You. We desire to see Your face in our prayer life, in our Bible study. We want to be more like You...love like You...be righteous like You...share in Your holiness. Our works will fall into line and we will look forward to the rewards. May it be so. Amen.

Walk with the King today and be a blessing.