Get A ‘Preparation Perspective’

Paul writes: ‘Our goal is to please Him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.’ (2 Corinthians 5:9–10 NLT) If you are wise, you will live each day with this truth uppermost in your mind. You’ll have a ‘preparation perspective’!

Think about it this way: you don’t just wake up one morning and say, ‘I’ve decided just for today I’m going to be a lawyer, or a doctor, or an accountant’; no, you make such a career decision many years earlier, and then you work towards it. Now let’s be clear. As a Christian, you’re not working to earn your salvation, but your reward in Heaven.

Salvation is the foundation you build on, and the Bible says, ‘No one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.’(1 Corinthians 3:11 NLT) Then Paul goes on to say: ‘Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.’ (1 Corinthians 3:12–15 NLT)

When you stand before Christ, you have two options—rewards or regrets. So get a ‘preparation perspective’.