What do you say about rewards and punishment in the afterlife?

The justice of God demands a reward for good as well as punishment for evil. When we consider God’s virtues, it is wrong to think God is simply a loving being. We usually tend to care only for God’s ‘softer virtues’ like love and tenderness while we forget His ‘hard virtues’ of holiness and justice.

Every human being has the freedom to choose God or reject Him. We can accept God’s salvation to serve and worship Him, or we can rebel and remain sinners. It is a personal choice that we make for ourselves. The Bible declares that wickedness is a condition of how we stand in God’s sight. The very fact of refusing God’s remedy for sin is itself a sin (Heb 10:29).

When we are not connected with God through a vital relationship, we are separated from the source of spiritual life (Eph 2:1). This death remains forever unless we are brought to life through God’s gift of life (Eph 2:5). Hell is the place for those separated from the body by physical death and separated from God by continued spiritual death.

To some extent, hell is also the end of a path some have chosen now in their day to day life. We are preparing ourselves each day to either be with God and value those He values or decide not to engage with those things. Hell is the natural consequence of a life lived in a specific direction.

 How seriously should we consider the life that is on this side of death?

The hope of life beyond should not destroy the significance of all the responsibilities, here and now, we have on this side of death. True, we will be designed to live in a new environment. Also, we have an indescribable glory to anticipate (Rom 8:18). With this assurance of hope, we persist in service now through thick and thin. Because of the certainty of hope, we are able to set the priorities of today.

We take seriously the responsibilities of today without neglecting the world. Life on this planet is a probationary existence. It is part of our probation to go through various experiences. Obviously, this probationary period, although short, is significant.

We need to consider what we carry with us into eternity. We carry with us the character quality that is developed in our personality. Also, we carry with us a share of reward for services, which resulted in developing such qualities in other people’s lives. This means we must be involved in services that will help others receive the character quality of Jesus, while we become partakers of His quality and grow in His likeness.

Many unforeseen things may happen and shake us. But we know that only the shakable can be shaken. The unshakable cannot be shaken! There is no need to be anxious if our grip is on the unshakable.