1 Corinthians 3:8,14 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

Of all the conversations I have had with believers, this is the one I believe that has been the most misunderstood of all Christian concepts. I do not know that all Christians have it wrong. I have not talked to all Christians, but to those to whom I have talked, they have difficulty letting go of their vision of reward.

A worldly reward is a thing given in recognition of one’s service, effort, or achievement. As we know from living in the Kingdom, spiritual matters do not follow worldly ways. Jesus Christ is the Way. To properly search out the reward according to God’s design, we need to throw out our worldly understanding of reward. Forget for a moment about reward and think about results. If work is in play, then results must also be a part of the design in question.

The object under construction here is found in verse 9, ye are God’s building. Supporting scriptures such as 1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Verse 3:10 tells us to be careful in building upon our foundation which is in Christ. Many see this as a church but in this we should focus on our temple body, the dwelling place of God. Jesus warned us in His earthly ministry of the dangers involved.

In Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17 and Luke 19:46 Jesus threw out the money changers and declared they had made His temple a den of thieves. Warning associated with this concept were also written in the Old Testament, not just as prophecy but as a warning against the practices.

1 Corinthians 3:12-13 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Worldly items, worldly rewards, not the things which Christ wants in His temple.

Ephesians 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

I spent decades hiding from people, not the outward and seeming but the inward and real. I could not be real with people because if they came to know what was in my heart, they would shun me or worse. I was a miserable person, guilty of sins I cared not to confess or show. The last thing I wanted was to have anyone know me, the inner man.

2 Corinthians 5:17 tells me that now that I am in Christ I am a new creation. The old man is dead and the new man has a new beginning. I did not know this new man that I am. I had no confidence in me, I am not what I was, I am not what I will be. How can I show others this new man when I don’t even know who I am in the inner man?

The tendency to hide is no longer necessary but I lacked the confidence in this new creature to change the behavior. I had to discover who I was before I could let anyone in. The natural approach to moving into a new house is to discard ugly things and keep what things are attractive. What I failed to understand in those early days was that all things must pass away, leave everything behind.

V17a That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;

He is the owner, resident, decorator, and by faith the One who invites others in to view this inner man. The same mistakes I made as the old man, I was willing to make again, decisions for myself. Verse 3 begins with; How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; which is what He is doing in this inner man. The essence of any mystery is that it is not revealed until after it is done. And here I was trying to decorate a house that was not mine.