Salvation isn’t a prize to be won, but a gift to be received. That being said, even believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We will answer for the things we have done and the choices we have made in this life. According to the Bible, there will be rewards given to some, and some will suffer loss. Recently, I have been confronted again and again with the idea that I’m not measuring up as a Christian. Then last week, a performance review at my job made me realize the great importance of having the correct scale. What exactly are the requirements to hear our Lord say, “Well done”?
The Numbers Say I’m Not a Good Teacher
Education is an industry that is always changing as the people in charge chase the latest societal fad. Lately, tying money to performance is all the rage, so the state I’m living in created a two-part scale to determine if a teacher is “good enough” to rate the bonus and title that goes with it. One part is a subjective classroom evaluation by an administrator, and the other part measures students’ growth on a standardized test that the students see no value in taking. Long story short, after over 19 years in the classroom, according to my state’s new scale, I’m officially not a good teacher.
Looking at the report, my eyes started to water. Then I thought, “But what about all the kids you encourage? What about those who have grown closer to the Lord because you allow Him to guide you and flow through you? What about the hugs and gifts and smiles from kids who tell you that because of you their lives are better? Where are they on the scale?”
Not a Good Christian Either
That conversation with myself happened right before I had the third major confrontation in as many weeks that I wasn’t measuring up as a Christian either. It was just pounding on me in my head. I was face to face with the idea that I can’t pray well enough, read the Bible enough, worship well enough, evangelize enough, work hard enough, or even WANT to do those things enough. In fact, I felt like everything I was doing was just hindering God from accomplishing something good with the great many great blessings that He has bestowed upon me. It was like I was being presented with bills that my spiritual bank account could never pay. Twice, it got so vivid and stressful that I ended up imagining myself behind my Father’s knee (which is where I go in my head when I’m at the end of myself).
The third time, I cried out to the Lord, “Lord, I don’t even know what to pray. I’m not a good teacher. I’m not a good Christian…” My mind was blank, numb. I was driving, and my fingers absently punched at the buttons of my radio. I settled on a channel that was just starting a song and bawled like a baby at the words.
“When my heart is racing deep inside my chest. When I’m underneath the weight of anxiousness; when the fear is raging, and I can’t catch my breath. I will remember. You are faithful still. You have carried me through deeper waters. Walked beside me through the fire. You have have closed the mouth of bigger lions, conquered even greater giants, gone before me and You always will. You are faithful still…” Faithful Still
Whatever was happening right then, God was with me in it.
Everybody Wants to Hear “Well Done”
“His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’”
Matthew 25:21, 23
From the “Parable of the Talents,” we all want to hear “Well done.” We all want to be considered “good” and for our Lord to be pleased with us on that Day. But how do we do it? What IS the scale?
Are you “good” if you work for the Kingdom every waking moment of every day? (How much of a break do you get, if you get one at all? Do union rules apply?) Are you “good” if you produce results for the Kingdom? (How many results are “enough”? Where are the quotas and tallies listed? What if you’re one short? Ten short?) Are you “good” if you bring many people to the Lord? (Wait. The Bible says that some plant and some water. What about seed sowers? Do they get a percentage of the harvesters’ take?)
The Scale You Use to Measure Matters
Okay, that was a little tongue-in-cheek, but it does highlight the point. Using this kind of thinking, you will never be “good enough,” much less “good.” The niggling feeling that you could be or should be doing more, more, MORE will follow you with discontentment and the uneasy feeling that God will never be happy no matter what you do.
That’s where I was in my head those days. My response to the Lord was, “Lord, I’m not good enough. I can’t do enough. I can’t be enough. The only good things in me are the things that You have, by Your grace, given to me. I throw myself at your mercy. You’re my only hope!” And that’s when I promptly put myself behind His knee, like a child hiding from a scary monster.
Spiritual Bankruptcy Leads to True Riches
Now that I have had some time to reflect, I believe the Lord was showing me that we must quit trying to work, produce, and live the “good” Christian life in ourselves. In fact, we must come to the end of ourselves in complete submission to Him. Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” That feeling of “spiritual bankruptcy” was the truth that I am indeed poor and in desperate need of Him. If He doesn’t provide the strength, wisdom, faith, and even the desire, I can’t do anything in myself. Jesus says in John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
Once we admit that there is nothing good in us, that puts us in the position of complete dependance. We’re not trying to have ideas, and we certainly don’t want to be IN CHARGE. We just want the Lord to sit on the throne of our hearts and direct us step-by-step. (Just tell me what to do, Lord. Like the song says, “Just tell me where to put my foot down next…”) After all, all who are born again by the Spirit, hear Him. Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” He is in the business of leading. We just have to follow.
What’s the Plan?
- Who do we talk to? Whoever the Spirit prompts us to witness to.
- What do we do? Whatever the Spirit of the Lord leads us to do.
- When do we work, read, study, pray, and worship? Whenever the Lord leads us to do it.
- Where do we go? Wherever He leads, we must follow.
- How much do we do? Until the Spirit of the Lord lets us know it’s enough.
- Why? Because it’s not by might and not by power, but by His Spirit, that we can accomplish any good thing.
In fact, there is an old hymn called “Trust and Obey.” One line says, “What He says we will do, where He sends we will go. Never fear, only trust and obey.” And the chorus says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” When we simply open ourselves up to whatever the Lord has for us to do, we never have to face that “not good enough” feeling. We can be happy, assured that He’s in control and taking care of everything.
One Day Everyone Will Stand Before God
2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…”
“Judgment seat” in the Greek is “bhma” (pronounced Bema). It’s the same word that the Greek used for the raised platform where athletes were judged to receive their crowns. It’s a place of reward, not punishment, because our sins have already been paid for by the precious blood of Jesus. This judgment is about looking at our lives in light of the great grace and blessings we have been given to see what we have done with them.
…that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done…”
We will be rewarded (or not) because of what we have done on earth (“in his body”) as well as our motives for doing it (“according to that he hath done”).
…whether it be good or bad.”
Here “bad” isn’t sinful things. (Again, those have already been dealt with by the blood of Jesus). These are “worthless” things, things we did for ourselves, outside God’s will, or without the proper motivation.
In another place, the Bible says that we all receive a foundation that is Christ. What we choose to do from there is how we will be rewarded. “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:12-14). Works that abide will merit a reward. Works that don’t, don’t.
So How Exactly Will We Be Judged?
Things done in the flesh for fleshly reasons (pride, independence, fear) will be burned up. We won’t be punished for them (because the Believers judgment isn’t about punishment). But we won’t be rewarded for them either. All our hard work, effort, struggle, and sweat building things with our flesh for our own purposes will be like so much wood, hay, and stubble. They won’t go past our last breath and will be burned on that Day.
On the other hand, when we humble ourselves in the truth that we are nothing without Him, we can use our energy to listen, obey, and trust the Lord. We can move when He says to move, and when He doesn’t, we can rest in faith knowing that He is accomplishing His purposes through us in His timing. We can be happy when we trust God to lead us and guide us. And on that day, all those things done for God in His will for His glory as directed by His Holy Spirit will be like the gold, silver, and precious stones. They will be “good” and last into eternity.
Like encouraging articles? Try When You Don’t Feel the Comforter. Or Suffering as a Christian: 3 Things We Can Do. Please sign up to receive my blog in your email inbox. You can find that at the upper right of your screen (or at the bottom on a phone). Also, check out my YouTube Channel where I read the blogs out loud. I also have a playlist of hymns from my church.
