“His lord said unto
him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a
few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of
thy lord.” – Matthew 25:21
Every
man or women that comes to this earth is one day going to leave it. We have no control over when we enter this
world, nor do we have any control over when we leave this world. Death is the absolute end to the path that we
walk in this life. It is the end of life
here on earth, and the beginning of eternity.
The
idea of physical death is uncomfortable.
The fact that it inevitable lies in the future tense is enough to cause anxiety
among us. Overall, people do not the unknown. Death is not only coming at an unknown time,
but it is taking us to another realm of unknown. For someone who does not have
a full relationship with Jesus Christ this is something to fight against. Either by ignoring it, reasoning against it,
or pacifying it. However, to the
Christian, death is a promotion. Jesus
lived, so that we might live. “In Him
was life and the life was the light of men.”
Jesus brought full spiritual life here on earth, and after, life in heaven. This life is only found through Jesus Christ,
in obeying Christ. To spend your days
here “laying up treasures here on earth” will only gain you the splendor of
this world. You cannot indulge in the
world down here, gaining and getting, and expect to find welcome in the world
to come. You are either a pilgrim here
and a citizen there, or a citizen here and a stranger there. We, each one, have a choice; we can serve the
devil, or we can serve Christ. Esteeming
the will of Christ greater than your own will reap spiritual blessings here and
life eternal in the world to come. Your
physical death gives absolute judgment on where your citizenship truly is; and your
sanctification is like a passport back to your homeland. As the old folks in my
church used to say “we have a heaven to go to heaven in.” If you have been made sanctified, and you are
living the life through the Holy Spirit.
A little bit of heaven is in you.
Thereby you have been “set apart” from the world, the flesh, and the
devil. You have a little bit of heaven
to take you to heaven. If you keep His
commandments, hours will turn to days, days to years, and one day you will look
up and this road of life will be well traveled for Jesus Christ. The glorious welcome of “well done” (in my
opinion) should be the focus of every life.
We are not living this life for ourselves, but for Jesus Christ. The goal, the mission, the want of our entire
being should be, and I imagine will be, to hear “well done.”
The
Bible clearly shows that God is a just God, and welcome will not be extended to
those who have rejected Him. The
judgment of God is sure, clear, and absolute.
In the end, what will matter is
love. Not how big the house is, or how
fast our car goes. The bank account or
resume will not count for anything. God
judged sin, and without holiness no man will see the Lord. Our love for God, and love for fellowman is
what will count. The question is not
what we have on the outside, but what we have on the inside. Do we have the perfect love of God? Did you love Him enough to renounce your way
each day and follow His? Did you love
God and love your neighbor? Did you walk
the path that is in His Holy Bible?
Though it seems at times these things count for very little, at death
and judgment, they will count for a great deal.
