Dear Kade,
This post causes me to feel very deeply for you. And I will be praying for you. Kade, please please listen to what I have to say and think about it.
I believe in this verse it is not telling us to not be "sold out" to Jesus. But is telling us to be "Sold out" to Jesus. But not ONLY in this life. But TRUST Him for the next.
Any way in which we give our selves to Jesus in this life reaps eternal divendends.
A better question would be "What are you doing that one day you will deeply regret at Jesus Christ's second coming?
And when you truly learn to trust Jesus, Kade, you will never doubt that there is a heaven, since he has said that there is.
Kade, seek Him while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near! Ask HIM for wisdom in understanding His Word. Search it out!
And I will be praying for you, that you may be brought the truth of His goodness, and unresistable grace.
In Christ and Because of God's tender grace,
Maria
Well shucks.
You said:
"I believe in this verse it is not telling us to not be "sold out" to Jesus. But is telling us to be "Sold out" to Jesus."
Uh, I don't understand. Maybe I'm missing something? Sometimes I do that you know.
I think that you might have misunderstood me, and maybe I wasn't clear. I totally believe in heaven; but I want to be making sacrifices that will be repaid when I get there!
And you're probably right though, your question is a better one than mine! Well, I can't be right all the time you know...
Thanks for reading my post and for taking the time to get me straight!
God bless!
Dear Kade,
Let me explain more clearly.
"If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied". So, how I might reword it to make it easier is "If we have hoped in Christ for blessings from this life only and do not trust that He will supply us in the next - heaven, and do not trust Him at his word, that He has a place prepared for us, where we may worship Him free from sin, then we are of all men most to be pitied."
Does that make sense to you?
Also with you previous reply, you said that you wanted to be making sacrifices that will be repaid in heaven. In heaven we are not being "repaid" for great sacrifices. As Paul says "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags", so why would we be repaid for them? The fact that anyone will even make it to heaven is only through the work of Jesus Christ, on the Cross, but also, just as importantly, His sinless life.
Also, heaven is not a place where we will be extoled, but a place where we will at last be able to worship God apart from sin, where sin will never hold us back from doing what is right. Though we can be taken from under sin's grip in this life, sadly we continue to fail and will continue to fail though our lives may change until Christ Jesus' second coming on the clouds of heaven.
Maria
Sorry, I still don't understand that first part, but that's probably my falt.
"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
-Luke 14:14
and
"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done." -Rev. 22:12
You said:
"heaven is not a place where we will be extoled"
But read this it's cool:
"The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." -Romans 8:16
So, we will be glorified and "exoled".
You said:
"The fact that anyone will even make it to heaven is only through the work of Jesus Christ, on the Cross, but also, just as importantly, His sinless life."
And that's absolutely right!
Dear Kade,
One of the kids in our class actually brought up the one verse in Catechism and how our teacher explained was that as it is only through Christ that we will be in heaven and we can do nothing in ourselves to make it there, then our "reward" is really for Christ's work and is not for anything in and of ourselves. So when the verse speaks of "reward" - it's speaking of the different rewards, as those who did not put there trust in Jesus will be given their due reward, while those who placed there trust in Jesus will be given eternal life with Jesus.
What I mean by "heaven is not a place where we will be extoled" - what I meant by that is not that we will NOT be glorified but that we will not be the center of things. Since it is Jesus Christ who deserves all honor and glory. Though because of Him, we are made blameness, so together with Him we will rule the world.
I apoligize, but I don't understand what you don't understand about the first part? Could you explain?
Maria
I understand the text, just not your interpretation of it.
I think you're right, "our "reward" is really for Christ's work and is not for anything in and of ourselves". But I still believe that He will reward us for the word that He has done in us.
I think I'm going to stop debating because:
1. You're much smarter than I am. :) and
2. You don't seem willing to change your perspective.
But feel free to comment back, and if you have something good to say, I'll be sure to reply!
And please continue to read my blog and if I have any more errors, challenge me!
With love,
Another great post, Kade! Wow, those are some deep questions.