II John 1:8 “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.”
Because we are human beings and still have a carnal nature to contend with, it is possible for us to drift away from “those things which we have wrought” and eventually “lose” these blessed “things”. When they are lost to us in this present life, they are no longer preached and taught in our Churches, and we are no longer comforted by them, and they are no longer worshipfully declared to the glory of our Lord. Therefore, in his Apostolic Authority, John exhorts us to “Look to” ourselves to keep ourselves from losing these blessed “things”. By carefully looking to ourselves, the same “doctrine of Christ” (II John 1:9) that was Preached and Taught by the Apostles will still be Preached and Taught in our day. When these blessed “things” are Preached and Taught in the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, “we receive a full reward”. We are blessed to receive this “full reward” for our Lord’s “joy” remains “in” us, and our “joy” is “full” (John 15:11; 16:24; I John 1:4; II John 1:12), and we “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8). We are sure to “receive” this blessed “full reward” when we are “stedfast, unmoveable” (I Corinthians 15:58) in the Biblical “doctrine of Christ” and we do not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25). So, let us pray for our Preachers that they will be blessed to mightily declare the “doctrine of Christ” and that a great host of our Lord’s Children will be drawn together to rejoice in this “full reward”.