So….where did I leave off? Well I guess the question I left in the stew was whether or not it is wrong to regard eternal reward as some sort of incentive for holy living. I think my answer begins with a clarification of perspective. If I strive to live a holy life, but have no regard for God except as a Santa Clause of the after life, who only gives presents to those who have been good, then I believe that is wrong. I don’t, however, believe it is wrong to strive for reward in heaven if you in fact love God, because those who love God want to glorify God, and that will prevail as the only motive for holy living. You may still strive for those rewards, but only in the light of the fact that those reward are mirrors of God’s glory, as I stated in the previous post. The truth is, we are merely practicing for eternity. The present life is just a training period designed to ready us for future service in our Lord’s earthly millennial and heavenly eternal kingdoms (Luke 16:1-13; 19:11-27; Rom. 8:16-18). So in light of these truths, let’s not feel guilty every time we start wondering about our inheritance. It is already far greater than what we have earned or deserved.