Jesus himself - and all that God is for us in him - is our great reward, nothing less. "I am the bread of life... If anyone thirsts, let him come to me" (John 6:35; 7:37). Salvation is not mainly the forgiveness of sins, but mainly the fellowship of Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:9). Forgiveness gets everything out of the way so that this can happen.
I wonder if our evangelism could have a slightly greater emphasis on this. We are right to major on the amazing fact that through the cross we are forgiven for our rebellion against God in a just manner as Jesus takes the punishment on our behalf. We talk about the resurrection and the fact that we can have life - knowing God for eternity. But perhaps we often really don't explain quite what this means enough. We are forgiven our sin so that we can know God. We can enjoy the fellowship of our glad, loving, kind saviour and friend, Jesus. The forgiveness of our sins is not the end, but it is the means used to bring about the greatest reward - knowing Jesus!
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