I. None who can honestly say they are trying to serve Christ will make such a mistake as to hold up before their own eyes earthly reward as the fit end of spiritual work, and to look upon it as an unheard-of and monstrous thing that a good man should be less successful in this world than a worldly man. The danger is, not that we shall turn atheists or unbelievers, but that we shall be disheartened, not that we shall lose all faith, but that we shall find our faith weakened.
II. The fact is that even when we have learnt what it is that Christ puts before us, there still remains the hope that He will give more than He promises, and that we shall get the best of both worlds. There are men, no doubt, who utterly fail of success in both worlds, for while their want of faith, and truth, and love makes them no servants of Christ, their want of self-control and of common-sense robs them of all chance in this world. But, on the other hand, the thorough-going servant of this world will succeed in this world better than the Christian. And the Christian cannot learn it too soon.
III. What then follows? This follows: that the service of Christ demands a generous devotion. Christians who wish to serve God shall be rewarded, not by His love no, for that they have always had but by being enabled to love Him, for that is the highest of all blessings.
Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons,2nd series, p. 267.