Well Done, Good And Faithful Slave!

It is kinda nice to receive something like this in the mail. I started working for ANL in 2001, and spent almost nine years sitting in a room surrounded by rows of computers. I even occasionally pushed a button or walked round a bit and looked at a few things. I haven’t actually gone to work for well over a year now, as my heart can no longer stand the excitement of sitting around doing nothing for 8-12 hours a day. So this certificate should say “In Recognition for your 9 Years of Dedicated Service and 1 Year of Freeloading on our Insurance Plan”, but I guess I’ll accept it the way it is.

One day soon I’m going to be raptured with the rest of the sinners saved by grace. I may die before this happens, but that’s no big deal. And that’s when the best bit of all eternity happens. I am going to see Jesus face to face, I am going to know as I am known, and I am going to be like Him. For 7 or so years we’re going to celebrate in Heaven while those left behind on Earth face God’s righteous wrath against unrepentant sinners, and then we’re going to accompany the King as He returns in power and glory to reign over Earth perfectly for 1,000 years. And then the whole thing gets rolled up like a scroll and there will be a new Heaven and Earth for eternity. Kinda like a divine Ctl/Alt/Delete, I suppose.

All of these truths are clearly presented in the Bible (yes, even the pre-tribulation rapture). They may be difficult to understand or hard to believe, but hey – God is God, and we are not. God’s Word has a 100% track record of absolute accuracy, and that record is going to continue.

So for ~1007 years and then in to eternity I am going to be perfectly serving my perfect King. I will have a specific role to fulfill in His Kingdom, and there will be official duties and tasks to perform. Based on my faithfulness to Christ and His Word (during my worst life now), my reward and position (in my best life then) will be uniquely suited for me.

I get to serve in Christ’s Kingdom for ever, and I won’t receive a paycheck every month. I guess there’ll be plenty of time to hang out by the water fountain and swap stories, but there will be lots of important business to take care of. And when the 10th… 50th… 100,000,000,000th anniversary of my promotion rolls around, I won’t be watching the mailbox outside my mansion for a piece of paper (or a wind up flashlight, which was the gift I chose to go with the piece of paper).

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!’
[Matthew 25:23]

Share your master’s joy…

If you’re reading this, and you are a Christian, then those four words should right here and right now be enough to see you through the rest of this life and then through an eternity of the next.

Sometimes (OK, often) it’s hard for us to understand how we are going to ‘feel’ in Heaven. How we are going to keep from being ‘bored’ for all eternity. Perhaps we’re hoping that Jesus will pop by every day and pat us on the back – some sort of continuous recognition for being on His team. Or it could be like an eternal Caribbean cruise, where every once in a while our turn to sit at the Captain’s table for dinner comes around.

Nah.

Here’s the only piece of paper I need on my wall:

But as it is written:
What no eye has seen and no ear has heard,
and what has never come into a man’s heart,
is what God has prepared for those who love Him.

[1 Corinthians 2:9]

Security

Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house; I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

[ John 14:1-4, NCV ]

It's just as well I won't need these, 'cos Heaven or not, I'd still lose them

Jesus Himself is building a home for me in heaven. But as I’m sure you will remember from your Bible, Jesus is a Carpenter, not a locksmith. HE provides all the security I need to know that I will be perfectly safe in heaven. I will not need to lock anything away. And you know what? I won’t be needing those preferred customer tags either – because I will automatically be a preferred customer EVERYWHERE! I CERTAINLY won’t be needing that Ace Hardware tag, ‘cos nothing will ever break or fall apart.

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

When the roll, is called up yon-der,
When the roll, is called up yon-der,
When the roll, is called up yon-der,
When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there.

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun,
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;
Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

[ When the Roll is Called Up Yonder ]

Will you be there? Do you have the security of knowing for sure? Later today (or tomorrow… next week/month??? at the latest) I am going to share my personal testimony on my blog. I will describe how I came to know the One who is building a home for me in heaven. And if I can have that kind of security in my life, anyone can. So if you can’t imagine a day when you won’t be needing any keys or locks or whistling key fobs so that you can locate your keys when they relocate themselves from where you know you put them – come back later for the Good News!

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Orange ones, Yellow ones, White ones, Green ones…

Welcome to the first post in a new corner of my blog! It is called ‘Things I Won’t Need In Heaven’, or “Sayonara, Signs Of Sin’.

Nope. These (including all the little ones that can’t be seen in the photo, but are lurking underneath the others) won’t be coming with me, and that alone is surely worth a rousing HALLELUJAH!

Here is the theme song for this series:

Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
Sing His mercy and His grace;
In the mansions bright and blessed
He’ll prepare for us a place.

When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the victory!

While we walk the pilgrim pathway,
Clouds will overspread the sky;
But when trav’ling days are over,
Not a shadow, not a sigh.

Let us then be true and faithful,
Trusting, serving every day;
Just one glimpse of Him in glory
Will the toils of life repay.

Onward to the prize before us!
Soon His beauty we’ll behold;
Soon the pearly gates will open;
We shall tread the streets of gold.

[ When We All Get To Heaven, Eliza E. Hewitt ]