Regret, will we ever have remorse in heaven? This morning my thoughts go deep as I reflect on this, which seems to be a nagging consideration. We are told to occupy until He comes, John Piper warns us not to waste our lives and the scripture teachers that we will sow what we reap. I understand that principle all too well! Whatever we put our hands to will lead us to its objective. Chase money and the reality of Paul’s warning to Timothy becomes our very own reality; “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1Timothy 6:9-10)
Some believe that they are immune to this warning, but all will suffer loss if taken by it. Then we have the warnings of Peter to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul; “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1Peter 2:11): - Again some will look to ignore this warning thinking they will escape its torment, only to find that the Word of God is always precise! Accommodate any forms of “passions of the flesh” and it will torment us until we seek forgiveness for our actions, whatever they may be! The “Old Man” constantly looking to remain alive even though on God’s reckoning he is dead! The flesh hangs on with all its might, yet at the expense of a tormenting war that rages within our souls.
We also understand that God deals with all His children in His loving tender way and yet sometimes that does require some harsh discipline which is often played out through the flesh. If one is weak and sickly amongst us, it is often the flesh that reveals the sickness. Although we may be spiritually crippled it is the flesh that will bear the brunt of the weakness. When we walk as mere men that is all we understand and often only realised our error when we suffer in our bodies.
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” (1Corinthians 11:27-30)
But, because of God’s love for His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus and His love toward us, this is what causes God to act favourably even if we don’t; “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:6-11)
God brilliantly does all things with purpose and an objective, His will in the forefront of His mind, which must also become our objective; He is holy, righteous and merciful and He alone is good. Thankfully He has chosen to include those who confess Him (His Son) as Lord as part of His family and He will continue to look out for His own, Praise His Holy Name now and forever more!
Yet with that comes the warnings, when we chose to ignore them it will be at our own peril, when will we finally learn, is the question I find infiltrating my mind even now as I type.
So here then is my final consideration; when we eventually arrive home, heaven our final destination it is clear from scripture that we will face a works judgment; we will be judged on what we did with the free gift of salvation. Some will suffer loss; “each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (Corinthians 3:13-15)
Now if we were to suffer loss, that would mean there would be regret and yet we are also taught By John that heaven will be a place where there will be no more tears, in other words no regret; “Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:13-17): It seems to be obvious that these came out of the great tribulation, in order to do that one would need to be faithful to God’s call, they would have suffered no loss, so a consideration could well be that for them there would be no regret. A special place is reserved by God for them; "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.”
However there is another portion of scripture that includes all who make it to the New Jerusalem and no one there will have any regret, for if they did, God will free then from it; “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4)
My conclusion which may be impulsive would be; if we were to suffer loss because of our disobedience we would carry that into heaven, through the believers judgement (works judgment) up until the final wedding feast and only then will those who have dilly dallied with the gifts of salvation be freed from regret.
I have not done an intensive study on this, these are only my thoughts and my mornings consideration, yet I have answered them in some form and I have a clearer understanding of what it is I must get on with, the will of God!
Signing off
Tyrone
No comments:
Post a Comment