I don’t have a Bible at present, owing to challenging circumstances, and I don’t trust the Internet when looking up Bible quotations online in the age of AI, but I’m mindful of the following Bible verse:
“Many of those who are last will be first, and the first shall be last.”
I’ve been reflecting on this a little in recent days.
As Christians, we are always trying hard to bear fruit for the Kingdom. What if we were to do exceedingly well? What if we were to come first, in terms of bearing fruit, winning 3,000,000,000 Christian converts and living a life of purity, chastity, and saintliness?
In this scenario, would we be ‘first’?
Oh dear! Could this mean that in reality, we would be last?!
Or is this the wrong way of looking at things. What if a person has great wealth, fame, and renown, but speaks about Christ only occasionally and has only influenced one person to act more kindly in their life.
In this scenario, would they make it into the Kingdom, but be last?
Oh gosh! Could this mean that in reality they would be first?!
From the perspective of my own philosophy, as expressed and discussed in various books I have written, there is no free will, and all things are under the control of God the Holy Spirit. How, then, is God able to judge between persons, for their place in the Kingdom, in a just way?
Are all our strivings essentially meaningless?
Does every Christian receive an equal reward in paradise, or can this not be so, because Jesus spoke of the ‘first’ and the ‘last’?
A high view of God means that He has the power and authority to judge in whatever way He chooses, for whatever reasons He chooses, and with whatever rewards and punishments He chooses. As I wrote in my book Reflections: Enlightening Insights Into the Divine Mystery, we may feel we are doing good deeds as a Christian and bearing much fruit, but the nature of a ‘good deed’ is open to question and interpretation. Read the book for a compelling example of what I mean.
And perhaps, if we were to come ‘first’, we would be ‘last’ anyway!
But if we can never be sure whether we will be first or last, what is the purpose of our daily striving as Christians for the Kingdom?
Perhaps, all ‘striving’ is misguided, and it is a genuine love of neighbour, and love of God, that are truly important, as Jesus said. But then, why do we go to church and try to grow as Christians and better ourselves? Is it to become better people so we can bear more fruit? Or is love simply for the sake of love and all we really need?
Is the sole purpose of the Scriptures to perfect us in love so that we do not cause harm to others or to ourselves?
‘From Him and through Him and to Him are all things’ and He does whatever He will. Really, when we do a ‘good work’, He is causing us to do that work, so no one is really deserving of any credit for anything they do that may be considered ‘good’. Maybe that’s why Jesus said, ‘there is no one good but God.’
‘God is love.’
We are love, too, we may just have forgotten.
When it comes to the question of how Jesus will judge us, all I can do is echo the words I once heard a wise woman say, and declare ‘I don’t know’.
Do you?
Leave a Reply