Serve in Heaven or Reign in Hell

 

The question each of us must ask ourselves is will you “serve in heaven or reign in hell?” The words come from Paradise Lost and I have paraphrased them on purpose. In this life you must decide, will you take up your cross and wear a crown of thorns, following Christ’s example, “For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps, He who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth;  and while being abusively insulted, He did not insult in return; while suffering, He did not threaten, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls,” (1 Peter 2:21-25) or will you wear the golden laurels of this world like Cesar and lose your soul, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).  

Many try to wear half thorns and half golden laurels, but the lukewarm, “So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust].” (Revelation 3:16). Ultimately you will need to decide who is your King and which crown you will wear. No one can serve two masters, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money,” (Matthew 6:24), “, If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you,” (John 15:19) and “Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23). 

We are all forced to decide, serve the Lord who is Love (1 John 4:16) or gain this world and lose your soul. The golden laurels tempt, the promise of a throne among your peers, fame, fortune, and perhaps a legacy where your name goes down in history like Julius Cesar. Its interesting, Julius Cesar and Jesus Christ have the same initials, and both were betrayed by friends Brutus, and Judas (woah those two named rhyme!), they both died, and both have a day of remembrance, The Ides of March and Easter. But the outcomes for the two was so different, Julius died in assassination because of his grip on power, Jesus gave up his life, “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.” (John 10:18). Cesar is remembered in a tragic coupe de etate,  Christ is remembered as saving the world from sin and opening the gates of heaven. Julius is praised by scholars, Jesus is worshipped by billions. Cesar’s empire had an end, Christ’s Kingdom will be forever. Now you may ask how can we compare ourselves to them? The truth is you are either a Son of Cesar or Son of Christ. You can have the empire of this world for a while, but Brutus will dig his dagger in you, death will come and you will fall into depths of Hades or you can serve The Kingdom of God, death will not have hold over you, “Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die,” (John 11:26), and you will be in heaven for eternity. The Empire of the World will come with pleasantries and fun, but will lead you to death, while The Kingdom God may mean you will suffer and have pain in this life but it ends in eternal life. Amen.