Thread by @RelevantQuest

“Grace is free. Works can’t save you.” Correct. Works make you. Christ saves you. “Claim Jesus & you’re going to heaven.” Correct. There are three heavens. Short of denying Christ, you’re going to one of them.

(THREAD)

The problem w/this oversimplified version of theology is that it stops short of explaining what God intends to make of *you* if you’re willing to live the higher law. This maturation of the eternal species—you—begins here with your works.

It begins with your dedication to God’s will, your fierce discipleship to Christ—your relentless labor of love, the works that form your eternal future & make you a creature worthy of infinite advancement & exaltation.

Jesus Christ saved everyone—from death. In our resurrected flesh we will meet him & receive Judgment. In our resurrected flesh (if we have not denied him outright) we will receive a glory of God—some kind of heaven, varied as the stars in the firmament.

That is what “saved” means: not to burn in hell forever, not to die the eternal death, because you or I did not deny him. In a nutshell, to be snatched from the pit is to be saved by grace. That is not, however, what “exaltation” is, & your works have everything to do with that.

To be exalted requires effort, obedience, purification through repentance, endurance, improvement, love of neighbor more than self, a lifelong commitment to developing Christ’s attributes & using them w/the same organic compassion he had for mankind.

To be content w/the promise of not burning in hell is a tragic error. Salvation, of course, is the gift above all understanding—but it’s the doorway to the next destination, a journey of eternal, unknowable breadth wherein we expand forever—thru effort. By obedience. By work.

This work begins as soon as saving has been declared. I receive Christ & I am called to the work. Follow me, he said. Do the things which ye have seen me do—right now. Feed my lambs. Love thy neighbor. Do my will.

The reward for such is not merely to escape burning—merely to have a respectable cottage in the pleasant pastures of heaven—but to dwell in the mansions of the Father, learn his wonders, & expand eternally. Not burning is fantastic, but there’s more. God has plans. Come & see.

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