God has done His part and more. He has created us, given us much in this life, given us a spirit and His Spirit, His Word, forgiveness through Jesus' sacrifice, and everlasting life. Now we must do our part. What does the Bible say for us to do? I could never give a complete answer, but here are a few things:
Luke 5:7, Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi and said, "Follow Me." We must follow Jesus.
1 Corinthians 11:24, Jesus taught His disciples to take the Lord's Supper, "Do this in remembrance of Me." We are to take the Lord's Supper. I do it every week.
Hebrews 10:24, "let us consider one another....not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together." We are taught to assemble with other Christians.
Acts 17:10-11, the Bereans "searched the scriptures daily." We should study our Bibles.
James 5:16 says, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." Pray.
1 John 2:10, "He who loves his brother abides in the light.." We must love our brother.
James 1:22, "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only." We must be doers, not just hearers or talkers or dreamers or whatever.
James 1:27, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."
I'm sure this could go on and on, but let's don't. None of us is perfect, but let's try to be; to be more like Jesus, to "do" what He wants us to do. Hey, thanks for reading, for joining me here. Feel the love.
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Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteCould you write a blog post on what the Bible is trying to tell us about Heaven. My specific question is on the topic of consequences in Heaven of how we lead our life here on earth.
Now, there are apparently both good and bad consequences of our actions here on Earth when we get to Heaven.
Lets start with rewards, which has always puzzled me. In my concept of faith, there is no such thing as materialism in Heaven -- only the closeness to God. Lets say that Chistian A leads an extremly good life in walking the talk of what Jesus teaches us. Lets say that Chistian B, while saved and a good person, just gets wrapped up with things of this Earth (say with their job). In good works "Brownie Points" terms, say Christian A racks up a Brownie Point good works grade of A, and Chistian B's Brownie Point grade is C. Question: Will Christian A have a closer relationship or richer experience in Heaven to God than Christian B?
OK -- as to bad consequences of our actions here on Earth. The Bible clearly tells us that EVERYONE (BOTH Christian and non-Chistian) will be judged before God on our actions here on Earth. What is the Bible telling us on the CONSEQUENCES WHEN WE GET TO HEAVEN of our sin here on Earth? I'm going to refer back to a previous question I raised on Purgatory -- where St. Paul did talk about some type of cleansing by fire, didn't he? Will a Christian with more sin need to be cleansed more befor entering Heaven than a Christian with less sin?
Thanks,
Steve