A full reward

2 John 1:8

Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

Look to yourselves, the beloved apostle tells us. Take heed! Beware! Give attention and care that you do not lose anything that you have wrought. Do not lose the things that the Lord has begun to do in your life. The great tragedy is that, for many, the Lord has begun a work and has gripped their heart in some way and has used their lives for His glory, but somehow they have lost that glory along the way. They have lost what has been wrought. Do not lose it! Do not lose sight of it and do not lose the dedication you once had—the passion, the fire, and the inflamed heart. Do not lose that wondrous work that the Lord did in your heart. John exhorts us never to lose it, that we may receive a full reward.

The great risk and the perilous danger of losing what has been wrought is that you will be beguiled of your reward. The reward only comes to those who work until the last hour! You do not start, and not finish, and expect to receive that which the Master gives. He is just, He is fair, and He is holy. He shall give to every man according as his work shall be. The reward can be lost! And that is a haunting thought and a frightful consideration. The Lord wants you to receive a full reward. Not half or a portion only, but the entire promise is yours as it was to Moses, and Joshua, and Solomon, and David. But it can be lost when we lose what He has wrought.

It is of note that this verse speaks of those things which we have wrought. We each have an individual work. And this work can only be done through Him, but there is a certain individuality about it, a certain claiming that this is the work that I have wrought through the power of Christ. I certainly may take no credit, but I may say that it is my work, and I have allegiance to it and am dedicated to it. It is affixed to me inextricably and is part of my life. If I cut it off, it shall be as a dismembered limb, and I shall halt upon it all my life long. Let us not lose what we have wrought. But, my dear friends, by the grace of God, let us receive a full reward!

“Dear God, we praise you for the work that you have wrought in each of our lives individually. It is not someone else’s work; it is the work you have vouchsafed to each of us by your Holy Spirit. He hath divided to every man severally as He wills. Therefore let us lose none of the personal work that the Lord has graciously done in our lives. And in this life, and in the life to come, may we receive and rejoice in that full reward! We humbly beseech Thee for these things, in Jesus’ name, Amen.”