“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
The heart of a human being starts beating at five weeks. It will beat at approximately 110 to 160 strokes per minute until a year after delivery. Then it slows down to an average resting heart rate. We know when the heart starts beating, but no one knows when it will stop.
Death is the beginning of eternity. It is God’s providence which will decide when our time on earth is done. When the final sun has set on our mortal life, we meet God at judgment. There we will be judged according to the deeds done in the body, so says the scripture. To the Christian, death is a promotion. Jesus lived, so that we might live. When you are sanctified by the Holy Ghost you live a life of spiritual victory here on earth. A life free from sin and walking in fellowship with our heavenly Father. Beyond that, you have the promise of life in heaven to come. Eternal life in heaven with your Savior Jesus Christ. Heaven is a place where God reigns, where there is no night, nor sorrow or pain. It is a place of magnificence and splendor. The person who “lays up his treasures here on earth” will reap only the grandeur of this world. This brief, material world, cannot compare to the glory of heaven. Those who lay up treasures in heaven, by doing the will of God, will reap spiritual blessings here and life eternal in the heaven to come. Here we are ambassadors for Christ. When you are an ambassador in a foreign land, it is not your goal to set up permanent residence there. To buy up acres of land. Build gigantic houses. Create monuments for yourself and integrate into the culture. You are not a citizen; you are an ambassador. You are only supposed to be there for a little while. We are meant to be an ambassador here in this world and a citizen of heaven to come. Sanctification is your passport back to your homeland, death is the passage, and Jesus is the one who comes to bring you home. Christ returns to call your name, marking the end of this world, and the beginning of the one to come. Just as Christ’s coming into your heart to sanctify you was a personal manifestation, so Christ’s coming to call you is a personal conclusion. The end of this life, and to the sanctified believer, the glorious welcome of “well done” by Jesus Christ himself. Therefore, the goal, the mission, the desire of our entire being should be to hear “well done.” This is the end of the path of the sanctified. Of the Christian. The sinner awaits the same call from this earth, but a different passage. God is a just God. The judgment of God is sure, clear, and absolute. The punishment of living and staying in sin is hell eternal. There is no backdoor in hell, no escape route, no second chance. The judgment is swift and final. So, in the end, it won’t matter how big our house is, or how fast our car goes. Your bank account or social status will not count for anything. When the heart stops, what’s done is done, and all that will matter is “well done.” All that will matter is that you have Christ living in you, and that you are living for Christ.
Are you ready for Christ’s coming? Are you ready for death and judgment? Are you sanctified? Did you love Christ enough to renounce your ways each day and follow His? Do you love God and love your neighbor? Do you walk in the path of His Holy Word? To this world, these things count for very little, but at death and judgment, they will count for everything.
