When he was a young clerk J.C. Penney worked in a small Colorado dry-goods store, he wasn’t given any special authority or status. But he consistently showed up early, treated every customer with unusual respect, and took personal responsibility for even the smallest tasks. His reliability stood out so much that the store’s owners trusted him with ordering inventory, managing accounts, and eventually running the entire operation whenever they were away. His steady character—not flash or ambition—proved he could be trusted with more.
That faithfulness paid off. The owners later invited Penney to become a partner in a new store, giving him far more responsibility than he had ever held before. He poured the same diligence into that opportunity, and it eventually grew into the nationwide J.C. Penney Company. His rise wasn’t sudden or glamorous—it was the natural reward for someone who quietly proved his worth day after day until greater responsibility became the obvious next step.
The Apostle Paul says something a little surprising in his second letter to the believers in Corinth: followers of Jesus will one day appear before His judgment seat.
2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
This isn’t to judge whether or not the believer is saved. That judgment was already made when Jesus took our place on the cross, God raised Him from the dead, and we believed in that resurrection and confessed Christ as our Lord.
The judgment seat talked about here is the one where the faithful receive their assignments in the world to come based on the good works we did for Him in our lives.
Echoes In Eternity
Our words and actions now will follow us into God’s heaven-on-earth, and when each of us appears before Jesus Christ, He will decide who can be entrusted with which responsibilities as His rule reaches over the whole new and glorious world.
We will have jobs to do in that new world. What an amazing and wonderful eternity God has in store for us! No more death, sickness, pain, or evil.
Nothing done in your life is meaningless; it all follows us into an endless eternity in an endless universe with the job of keeping God’s creation running and in good order, where we will once again be the full, shining bearers of God’s image.
Earning Some Crowns
The Bible also tells us about our coming rewards and responsibilities and describes them as crowns.
There is the crown of righteousness for those who love Christ’s appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
A crown of life is promised to those who love the Lord and patiently endure the troubles of life.
James 1:12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
A crown of glory is given to faithful shepherds of God’s people.
1 Peter 5:3-4
Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
And an imperishable crown is promised to those who are disciplined and run the marathon of life in faith.
1 Corinthians 9:25
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
See, God remembers every patient, faithful good work, every resisted temptation, and all of our obedient acts done in love. There is nothing that we do for Him that disappears or is forgotten.
Our rewards and new jobs in God’s heaven-on-earth are real and waiting for us to claim them by what we do in the here-and-now.
Child of God, husband, father, grandfather, rabblerouser, songwriter, pot stirrer, waiting for the King.