Don’t Stumble Over the Branch

Don’t Stumble Over the Branch

April 4, 2024

2 Corinthians 5:10, -”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.” (New Living Translation)

Many people who call themselves by Jesus name, that is, “Christian” — of every denominational persuasion — it seems we miss this part of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Born Again Believers in Corinth, Greece.

We also love to “claim the name” and overemphasize a single part of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Turkey:

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (ibid)

We stumble over this branch, seeming unable to juggle two similar but vastly different concepts: Our own works won’t justify us by, for instance, balancing our Budget and Financial Spreadsheets of earnings and expenses, that is, our good works versus the bad.

God has a different value system altogether.

In the long run, there is no profit, according to our CEO and CFO, unless we do according to their idea of doing a good job, doing things their way, and so, making a worthwhile product. What will justify us and justify Jesus’ sacrificing for us would be to make us a good investment by us forgetting our own ways and turning to God to learn how to apply His ways and completing the job He has given us to do.

That would make our Employer/Employee relationship work for everyone.

By the by, Christians are working for a Charitable Nonprofit, an NCO. It will never be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It has a completely different value system.