What Hagrid’s coaster taught my daughter about eternal rewards

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:33-34)

My daughter Ellison and I were at Universal Studios standing in line for a Minions ride that had a consistently low 5 minute wait. As the doors swung open for our turn, it was clear there were too many people in our row. Either us or the party behind would have to wait another round. Ellison offered to let the other family go ahead of us.

Then, to our surprise and delight, an employee gave us an Express Pass to cut to the front of the line on the best ride in the park (Hagrid's rollercoaster) which had a minimum wait of 120 minutes that day.

Needless to say, we were ecstatic about the ride. But I was even more excited for the opportunity to talk with Ellison about eternal rewards. I read her today’s passage and explained that the gap between eternal rewards and wealth in this life is infinitely greater than the gap between Hagrid and the Minions. And unlike us who were beholden to the generosity of the Universal employee, Jesus guarantees to repay us for whatever we give up in this life (see Revelation 22:12).

2 Corinthians 5:10 is crystal clear that every Christian will stand before the “bema seat” of judgment—not to determine where we will spend eternity but what rewards we will experience on the New Earth. Rewards like treasure (see Matthew 6:19-21), increased job responsibilities (see Luke 19:11-27), words of affirmation (Matthew 25:14–30), etc.

Which is why the tone of Jesus’s frequent commands to pursue eternal rewards is not one of guilt, but invitation. He’s not threatening eternal punishment for not storing up “treasures in heaven.” He’s just pointing out that it’s a really bad bet.

The great preacher Jonathan Edwards got this better than most. When he was only nineteen years old, he wrote: “Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigour, and vehemence . . . I am capable of.”

That’s the idea here. And it brings us to our fourth and final principle of this series on stewarding our income: Hoarding wealth isn’t just sin, it’s stupid given Christ’s promise of rewards.

With that in mind, store up for yourself some eternal treasure today by giving something—anything—in secret per Jesus’s commands. Donate PTO time to a team member in need. Anonymously send a gift card to an underpaid coworker. Secretly cover a professional development course for someone who can’t afford it. “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:4).