Investments in Heaven
How are your investments in heaven doing?
We often check our accounts here on earth to see how they are doing. But have you ever considered what is waiting for you when you get to heaven? Jesus tells us, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matt. 6:20). Have you thought much about investing there or how to earn a greater reward? There is nothing wrong with that according to Jesus!
Even we as believers will be judged on the final day. In writing to Christians, Paul says, “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God… Each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:10, 12). He also tells the Corinthians, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). Both of these admonitions were written to Christians.
We know there will be a sudden, personal, visible, bodily return of Christ. After His return, we will all face judgment. We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ in resurrected bodies and hear God proclaim of our eternal destiny. It is important to realize that this judgment of believers will be a judgment to evaluate and give various degrees of reward. But this fact should never cause believers to fear that they will be eternally condemned. God declares in scripture that He will not remember our sins, and there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. So the Day of Judgment can be said to be one in which believers are rewarded, and unbelievers are punished.
“The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth” (Rev. 11:18).
You have no doubt heard that it is good to “begin with the end in mind”. Knowing that we will face judgment, we should “live with the end in mind”. How should the fact that there is a judgment followed by eternity in heaven affect your life here on earth? Final judgment should not only provide some moral restraint on our lives, but it can also be a motivator to live a Kingdom life. For believers, the final judgment is an incentive to faithfulness and good works, not as a means of earning forgiveness of sins, but as a way of gaining greater eternal reward. Our life here is short compared to an eternity in heaven, so let’s let our values and our choices reflect eternity. Paul says, “set our minds on things above not on things upon the earth”.
