Obedience and reward

What is the relationship between obedience and reward? I look at that question through the lens of Joshua 21-24.

Joshua 21-24

God keeps His promises. It is sufficient simply to have faith that this is true without requiring proof of it (Deut 6:16, Hebrews 11:1), but God knows our hearts even better than we do. He delights in encouraging us--and glorifying Himself--by demonstrating His faithfulness. In today's passage we see God's promises fulfilled in totality. "Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled" (Joshua 21:45).

As he calls them home in Chapter 22, Joshua praises the eastern tribes for their adherence to God's commands. Entering into the promised land is a long-awaited prize for these tribes, but is it their merit that earns them this bounty? Is God beholden to them for these parcels? Or is it an outpouring of God's grace that such restoration is even conceivable for the Israelites?

More broadly, what is the relationship between obedience and reward? Many hundreds of years after Joshua's death, Jesus tells the parable of the talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). A man charges three servants with looking after a portion of his wealth while he is away. Upon his return, as faithfully as they have carried out this mission, so does he lavish them with praise and additional responsibility. It is not difficult to see ourselves in this story, and indeed its key theme of stewardship underpins the entire Christian life.

We are given eternal life through faith in Jesus (John 3:16, John 14) and clear instructions to spread the Gospel far and wide (Matthew 28: 18-20). Far from being our fair wage (Romans 6:23 tells us we are due exactly the opposite), it is a testament to God's character that we are allowed to participate in these things. God doesn't owe us anything. We owe him. It is thanks entirely to God's surpassing grace that just as Joshua, "The servant of the Lord," was laid to rest in the promised land (Joshua 24: 29-30), so too do we anticipate the promised land of eternal life with God.

"Well done, my good and faithful servant." How my heart longs to hear those words.