At the foot of the Malvern Hills in the United Kingdom is a Victorian Gothic hotel that was built in 1851 as a summer residence for the Bishop of Worcester. Today, this former residence is known as the Cotford Hotel in the town of Malvern in the county of Worcestershire. Frankly, I do not know or care whether this residence was something else before becoming a hotel, but something about this place caught my attention.
After
reading some of the reviews of Cotford, it sounds like a cozy and classy place
with great food and service if you happen to be in the Malvern area! But the
reason I included this hotel in M-G is to talk about a plaque attached to it on the exterior. It is a most peculiar and somewhat humorous plaque that makes no bones about the hotel’s illustrious
heritage! You can read it for yourself.
Yeah, like everybody knows what happened on this site back in 9.5.1782? Well, we know something happened there 69 years later, yes? Had this plot of land remained undisturbed since the great flood in Noah’s day? It kind of makes you wonder what was significant about this place in 9.5.1782, if any? Anyway, I have to admit that when I heard about this plaque, I was struck with a profound spiritual truth that is more edgy than exhilarating to me!
I would like for you to consider what I am about
to say on the importance of you and me leaving a spiritual legacy of service to
the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Scripture. Because one day, whether you read this or not, you are going to experience the judgment seat of Christ as well as all of us who love the Lord. Tell the devil
to take a hike and give some time to Mike, yes?
To
be clear, the expectation of service to the Lord is not burdensome (cf.
Mt 11:30), but Yahweh demands us to be holy (1 Pet 1:15-16), in His
strength of course at all times (cf. Php 4:13) to accomplish
the will of God in our lives according to the Scriptures. Such service is analogous
to the law of the harvest, reaping what we sow in this life (cf. Gal 6:7). Make
no mistake about this; a God of love (agape) is not going to give us a
pass on this divine standard; all of the saints will experience this in the now and at the
judgment seat of Christ in glory, aka, the BEMA seat (for believers only).
Let
me be perfectly clear here; the BEMA is a judgment for service only and has
absolutely nothing to do with our eternal salvation in Christ. Without
apology, for anyone to insist that the BEMA is where Jesus determines our
worthiness to enter into heaven is heretical to the hilt! The BEMA is
about identifying service to the King that glorified God on earth according to
Jesus, and the saints are rewarded according to the quality of their service to
Him (1 Cor 3:9-15; 2 Cor 5:10).
If
our service is found to have brought glory to Him, we are rewarded with gold,
silver, and precious stones representing that which is eternal. If our service
produced only wood, hay, and straw results, we failed to glorify God. Our out-of-the-will-of-God
works are consumed by the fire for there are no divine rewards for being out
of the will of God. Truly, it does not pay to disobey in this life. In glory,
disobedience to the will of God will not be an issue.
This
comprehensive judgment is a fair standard for all because Yahweh is a just and
righteous judge. This article is about encouraging us to live in the present with
the future in mind, particularly our quality of service to Him. Keep in mind
that the length of service begins at spiritual regeneration (Jn 3:3) and ends on this
side of eternity after RIP or the rapture.
How
detailed will Jesus go in evaluating our service to Him? When Paul admonished
us to glorify God in all that we do, He was serious and quite literal! I
believe that every thought, every word, and every act will be evaluated
whether we brought glory to God in our service to the King of Kings from the
moment we are born again to the time we are out of here! This is what will be evaluated
at the BEMA.
The
prime directive is to love God with the totality of our being (Mk 12:30-31) with our thinker,
our feeler, and our chooser or said in another way, with our intellect, our
emotions, and our volition or will. Most believers probably do not think that Jesus will get that detailed about our service to Him at the BEMA because He
understands our sinfulness, and is a God of love after all. We need to rethink that
assumption asap! He understands our imperfections, and He is a God of love, but make no
mistake; God will hold all saved sowers accountable to a proper service that brings glory to Him.
Why is this focus so intense in glorifying Yahweh in everything we think, say, or do? Well, for one, who wants to lose rewards that express our love for Jesus due to disobedience (cf. Jn 14:15)? This is a call to raise the bar on our service to God. Another reason is that one day the earth is going to melt with a fervent heat, and any trace of man on the former earth will be forever dissolved (2 Pet 3:10, 12; Rev 21:1); so much for wasting time and energy on human legacies and manmade empires here on earth, yes? It’s better to promote the kingdom of God on earth rather than wasting our life's energies and monies on personal kingdom-building. The words of CT Studd, a British missionary to China, come to mind,
“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”
The
only things in heaven that have the touch of humans are the scars on Jesus’
hands and feet, and the words of men inspired by God (Genesis to Malachi,
Matthew to Revelation, 2 Tim 3:16; 1 Pet 1:20-21). What a contrast! There are other reasons, but
these two serve our purpose here. All the sinful baggage associated with our
humanity will be removed from us during the glorification of our bodies. Praise
God for that!
I mentioned this in an article years ago, but it is germane to our discussion. Beverly and I were taking a long leisurely walk along Daytona Beach Shores a few years ago. I stopped suddenly and pivoted around to see our footprints in the sand along the beach. I began to think about all the footprints I had made in this world. Beverly turned around and asked me what I was doing. I asked her, “Beverly, I wonder how many footprints of mine are in the will of God in my lifetime? I cannot honestly say that every step I took was in the will of God! I fear there are more steps to be found in my own way!”
I felt like a sorely whooped pup! She wisely commented, “We are all in that boat; we must do better. Come on.” The high tide finally erased all traces of our footprints! Since reading about the Cotford plaque, I don't want my footprints to reveal nothing happened for God there! Oh, Lord, keep me in the paths of righteousness for your name's sake! Help me make every footprint count for You!
Have you ever wondered why God puts up with us anyway? Why does God love us so much that He went to the cross to provide a way of salvation for us who are altogether unworthy of it? I have been born again since 1.19.1976, and of all the doctrines that baffled me, the love of God trumps even the concept that God has no beginning! And brothers and sisters, that truth is an impossible one to fathom -- living in a world of origins and our Creator having no genesis! Finite will never grasp the Infinite, right?
And yet, in my heart of hearts, I know Yahweh loves me with an everlasting love; I truly embrace this unfathomable love the best I can without denial, but if I am being straightforward with you, I have never been able to fully wrap my arms around that wonderful truth even unto this very day! It is only by the grace of God through personal faith that I believe He truly loves not only me but you, too; He demonstrated it on the cross (cf. Rom 5:8), yes!? Nonetheless, the why of it still remains mystifying to me, but I am also deeply thankful for the reality of His love.
Look, I am not going to say that glorifying God in all that we think, say, and do is not challenging to the point of overwhelming; it is! Not only that, as believers, we find ourselves fighting a spiritual war on three fronts: the flesh, Satan and his demons, and the world system while trying to bring glory to God in all that we think, say, or do. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot make this a reality in our service to Yahweh (cf. Jn 15:5; Gal 5:16).
James, the Lord’s half-brother, made it abundantly clear that faith without works is lifeless, not on life support. He contends that he would manifest his faith by his works or fruits. A fruitless faith is a dead faith, yes? Faith is no stranger to fruit (cf. Jas 2:16-17)! In actuality, the BEMA will be a time when our fruit will be literally evaluated! Since Yahweh is all-knowing, it will be thorough.
Given the reality of the upcoming BEMA, it might be high time for us to get serious about glorifying Yahweh in our lives by submitting to His authority and letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly (Col 3:16) so that we can know how to be pleasing to the Lord. Again, it doesn’t
pay to disobey. I am thankful I was introduced to that plaque at the Cotford
Hotel. Oddly, it reminded me of the process of erosion! You know; at some point, you wonder where the dirt or in this case where the time went! I need to be producing more footprints in service to the King and less for myself. What about you?
Every thought, every word, and every act do or should matter to every authentic believer in bringing glory to God while living in a space-time continuum. Afterward, in eternity, there are no more opportunities to choose to express our love and faithfulness to Jesus for such a time as this because we will all be in a glorified state, and disobedience will never be an issue again for all eternity!
We all need to do a better job redeeming the time for God's glory, my friends, and avoid another day where we confess, “On this day nothing happened for Yahweh in my life!” At any moment, the rapture of the Church could take place, and the BEMA will be just around the bend! We need to seize the day for His glory and not ours!
We must never lose sight of the things that are not seen in our quest to bring glory to God (cf. 2 Cor 4:16-18); for once we take our eyes off of Him, we wind up in a place where we do not belong, a time and place where nothing happened in our lives to bring glory to Yahweh!
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). <><
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