When any of us meet Jesus face to face and look in His eyes, we will not feel like praising ourselves. We will confess ourselves “unworthy servants.”
But the most marvelous thing will happen: He will want to praise us! It seems incomprehensible that He should want to do that, for the honest truth is that we are indeed “unworthy,” even the best of us (whoever that might be!). It seems almost incomprehensible to me that the divine Son of God should deign to say something nice about our work! But there is nothing He will take more joy in saying than His words of praise to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!” (Matt. 25:21). Not one of those “servants” will feel that he deserves those words of commendation. Each will be shocked to hear them; they may even turn around to see if there is someone else that the Lord is speaking of; “no, I mean you,” He will remonstrate. Let Me share with you this inexpressible joy that is Mine, He will say; I can’t imagine how I would feel if I heard Him say those words to me! He says them only because His heart is so full of agape-love that He can’t hold them back! He doesn’t want even one person to crawl into the New Jerusalem like a dog with its tail between its legs; every one will have only “entrance ... ministered ... abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11). Why? Because even one of us may deserve it? No, only because of the “much more abundant” grace of Jesus. No, we are not saved by works, we don’t earn a place there; but we begin even here and now in learning to appreciate that grace of Jesus. That word “appreciate” is closely related to the word “believe.” You believe in Jesus not when you raise your hand in a meeting to show people you are okay; no, you believe when your heart is moved by His love (agape), when you sense that He went to hell to save you, that He poured out His soul unto death—even the second death (Isa. 53:12)! You sense that He bought you with the price of His eternal life, and you are “constrained henceforth” to serve Him gladly, with no thought of earning a reward. Youth often think it is “hard” to follow Christ; but if they are privileged to hear the pure, true gospel presented, they are “constrained” to yield themselves heart and soul, and all they have, unto Him. It’s the furthest thing from a works trip you can imagine. Is it hard to be saved? Is it hard to make any sacrifice of worldly pleasures for His sake? If it seems hard to you, dear youth, it’s because you have no idea what it cost Him to save you. —Robert J. Wieland --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DBILG?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
