How can Jesus reconcile his demand for self-denial with his frank promises of reward?
[b:2rjd8hws]C. S. Lewis, in his book The Problem of Pain, answers this way:[/b:2rjd8hws]
[i:2rjd8hws]We are afraid that Heaven is a bribe, and that if we make it our goal we shall no longer be disinterested. It is not so. Heaven offers nothing the mercenary soul can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall seek God, for only the pure in heart want to. There are rewards that do not sully motives. A man’s love for a woman is not mercenary because he wants to marry her, nor his love for poetry mercenary because he wants to read it, nor his love of exercise less disinterested because he wants to run and leap and walk. Love, by definition, seeks to enjoy its object.[/i:2rjd8hws]
Let me know your thoughts.
The Least
~Victor