So, you’re Saved… What now?
So, you’re Saved… What now?
I tend to mention to anyone who will listen that God is going to get what he needs from your time here on earth regardless if you are ‘in the sand box, or not’.
What do I mean? Well, once you accept and publicly acknowledge that Jesus is the leader of your life, and give him dwelling in your soul, that’s it. You have been accepted into heaven. That’s true and I fully believe it. You’re going to heaven unless you somehow end your time here with a denial of God on your lips and in your heart. So, what’s the variable?
I believe that when you leave the planet, in the twinkling of an eye, bam! There you are in the presence of the Lord. He will walk up to you (remember, this is my imagery of what I think will happen) and say one of two things: He will say “well done good and faithful servant” or he will ask “what did you do with the ‘talents’ I gave you?” Then, he will look over your shoulder and see how many souls you have behind you (representing the individuals you brought to the King’s Table during your life).
You see, the determination of which of those two things Jesus says is based on how you spend your time here on earth. It’s important to remember that you won’t be ‘perfect’, none of us are, but it will be more of the concept where did you spend most of your time and passion. That’s where ‘free will’ comes in.
In the book of Matthew chapter 25 vv. 14-30 both of these phrases come to light. In verse 21, the master congratulates the faithful servant for handling his ‘talents’ well and promises him more responsibilities and ‘freedom’. He then turns to the servant who ‘hid his talents’ and took them away and sent him into “darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30b).
I use the word “talents” as sort of a play on words. In the Scripture, talents is a monetary unit, for us today, God gives us skills (talents) that we naturally have and use every day, if we’re smart, to further ourselves and hopefully God’s Kingdom here on earth.
Like the parable, we wind up on one of three places: 1) We are using our talents to build God’s Kingdom by bringing people to the table thereby growing the kingdom, or 2) we are using our God given talents to chase the things of this world, or 3) we are not using our talents at all and just running around chasing only the things of this world and our flesh.
What is Jesus going to say to you when you meet him? The choice is yours.
Jeffrey LaSpina, MA, LCPC