Week 4 - Saturday

Judged By Deeds

who will render to every man according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life (Romans 2:6-7)

Everything the Bible says is absolutely true. If two statements of the Bible seem to contradict each other, one is not true and the other false, both of them are true. This is what is known as a paradox. One such paradox in the Bible is that we are saved by faith, but judged by our deeds. While these two truths might appear to be contradict each other, actually they do not. The Bible makes it clear that no one is saved by their deeds. Saving faith is a gift from God and no one can do anything to earn it (Eph. 2:8). How does Paul say then that every man will be judged according to his deeds? Although a person's deeds do not save them, they do show whether or not they have been saved. Whenever God saves a person, His Holy Spirit also comes to live inside of them. This changes their life. Spiritually, they are born again. They become a new person, with a new heart and a new desire to do things that are pleasing to God. Someone who is saved will do good deeds because God is working inside of them produce those good deeds (Phil. 2:13). Not only will they do deeds that are pleasing to God, but they will continue to do them for the rest of their life. This is what is called perseverance in doing good. Because saving faith results in a changed life, and that change is permanent, God can judge who is (and who is not) saved by their deeds.

God's Spirit will cause someone who has been saved, to seek for glory and honor and immortality. Their main concern will be for God's glory and they will seek the honor that comes from God, rather than the honor that comes from the world. Not only do they seek to bring glory to God, they also look forward to sharing in God's glory when they get to heaven. While we are still in our human bodies, we will never be perfect. Even though God has given us a new heart and His Holy Spirit, we still struggle with our sinful nature. This is why we sin, not as often as we used to, but Christians can and do sin. As we continue to learn and follow Christ, we should be growing spiritually and becoming more and more obedient to Him. Someday we will be perfect though. As Christians we look forward to our future life of immortality in heaven. That is when we will be perfect. Remember that God is holy and He will not have us sinning in front of Him forever in heaven. When we see Jesus face to face, we will be given new glorified bodies and our sinful nature will be gone. At that moment we will be instantly changed to be as perfectly righteous as Jesus is. This is the end result of our salvation, eternal life. God gives the gift of eternal life to everyone who receives Christ as their Lord and Savior. Eternal life is not just living forever though. The people who go to hell will live forever, but I wouldn't call that eternal life. Eternal life is a quality of life that includes knowing God, sharing in His glory, and being made to be just like Jesus Christ.

Readings for today: 2 Cor. 5:17; Ezek. 36:26-27; Phil. 3:20-21; John 17:3; 2 Thes. 2:14