What is our eternal reward?

"...for eternity we are growing in the realization that we need God for everything, and yet in that neediness, we are fully and abundantly satisfied in all he provides." – Kyle Strobel, "Formed for the Glory of God" page 97

Note in the above quote the tension of continued growth in eternity while experiencing complete satisfaction at the same time. How does this occur? 

Strobel explains our understanding of our need for God throughout eternity is always increasing - after all, He is infinite, with no end or bottom and we are like Him with the capacity to experience him with ever increasing fullness. We will therefore never reach the height, width, fullness, or depth of His being. 

Yet, we are also always filled up to our present capacity at any given time. So there will never be a time we are not increasing in our experience of God while being full at the same time. God is not changing or getting bigger, our capacity and experience of Him is. 

But that process begins now. The degree to which we will experience him in eternity is determined by the extent of our faith in Him in this life. When we go into eternity, if our capacity to experience the fullness of God is only a thimble that will be the extent of our experience of Him upon entry. If a bowl, barrel, or an ocean we will experience Him accordingly. We will experience more of Him to the extent we have a larger capacity to experience Him.

Once we go into eternity our understanding of Him will continue to grow. The question then becomes, what capacity do you wish to enter eternity with… that of a thimble, a barrel or even an ocean? 

Either way, there will never be a dull moment throughout all eternity. Things will always be progressing and expanding. Hard to grasp but exciting to consider. 

It begins now...by faith

The realization of our need for God starts in this life at the beginning of our ¹new (spiritual) birth and increases in this life as our trust in God grows. Our experience of God also continues to progress  throughout eternity as our knowledge and communion with God grows.

What we should strive for in this life is greater faith so that we might have a greater capacity to see and experience more of God in eternity. God is our goal and reward i.e. Scripture seems to indicate our ability to enjoy and honor God in eternity will be in proportion to our faith in and faithfulness to Him now. Now we live by faith in ever-increasing degrees. Faith is the means by which we increase our capacity now to enjoy our greatest reward later i.e. God himself!

Whatever satisfaction in God we find now occurs by faith. Satisfaction will continue in the ²next life but firsthand - i e. by direct experience instead of by faith. Now our walk with him involves faith, hope, and love. In eternity faith and hope will no longer be necessary, only love. As we see God and the vastness of God's love more fully our love for him will continue to grow.

And because love will be experienced directly - face-to-face - it will also be full (according on our capacity), uninterrupted, and overflowing. We will be glorified. Our limitations - lack of faith - will no longer exist for we will be like Him and see him as he is in all his glory and love (not  quantitatively but qualitatively i.e. not in completeness but in substance). While faith and hope will cease and are no longer necessary, love remains. 

Mat 5:10  "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
Mat 5:11  "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 
Mat 5:12  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (what causes their blessed state and makes their reward great is the testing of our faith by means of struggle and persecution). 

Luk 6:22  "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 
Luk 6:23  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. 

1Co 3:8  He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor (labor inspired or driven by God's Spirit in us vs labor performed for the approval of others and by mere will power i.e. the labor of faith versus the labor of performance. For a further discussion on this click here).  

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¹the Spirit of God, given at our spiritual birth and now indwelling his children, is our guarantee of better things to come i.e. the fact that we have been given God's Spirit is our guarantee we will be with God in all his infinite glory one day. 

Why? His Spirit can not indwell an unclean vessel. If we have His Spirit we are and must be clean, not because of our efforts or faithfulness but because of Christ's. By this, we know we will be with Him in eternity.

²Not that we do not experience any evidence of this love by tangible provision of material needs now, but these are merely a drop in the bucket to aid us in advancing his purposes now and for our enjoyment i.e. we can not depend on these as proof of God's love. God promises in this world, you will have trouble. Material blessing will ebb and flow; God's love will not. The completed work of Christ, to restore us to the Father in the fullness of his love, is our primary proof of the greatness of that love. There is no greater evidence. 

This is a past historical event with ongoing and expanding benefits both now and throughout eternity. The face-to-face union with Jesus and the overflowing joy/bliss of that union is our primary reward and hope.