Excerpt from the chapter "Getting a flying start"
Leona Choy's book in progress: FINISHING UP WITH A FLOURISH
Defining "Well done"
How we live after we become a
follower of Christ determines whether God will welcome us to Himself with the
words “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of
your Lord.” Or will we simply hear the words “Well, done!” in the
sense that finally we have finished our lives, but we may not have finished
well.
My welcome into God’s presence will
not be based on having been a “good and perfect servant.” Since all have
missed the mark of perfection, before we enter into heaven God has lovingly
provided a way for us to become holy and pure enough to dwell there with Him
for eternity. Nor is being good
in the sense of depending on my own righteousness or good works able to earn
God’s commendation of “Well done!” Nor is my welcome based on being a successful
servant. How we rate success may be far from how God defines it; His ways are
higher than our ways. Nor will it be because I have been a well-known
servant. The greatest commendation may come to a believer who has lived his or
her life in relative but obedient and holy obscurity. Nor will it be based on
being the always busy servant. Being busy and active even in so-called
Christian service is not the same as being spiritually fruitful, which is what
the Lord is after. God defines fruitfulness, and it may not be what we think it
is.
“Good and faithful servant”
is God’s expectation of how we should live our life on earth. Good is
our standing in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. God looks at us as “in
Christ” and works with us as we “work out [not work for] our own salvation with
fear and trembling.” God’s way is to transform us through the process of our
lifetime into the image of His Son. God commends us on our faithfulness to the purpose for which He gave us life and how
obediently we have walked in His ways.
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