“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. …. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.”
Revelation 20:12-13 (NIV)
In Luke 16:19-25, Jesus tells the story of two very different men, who lived very different lives on earth and these two men had very different after-life experiences.
One was a very rich man, dressed in the finest of fashion, he lived in luxury every day. Right outside his door, right under his nose, there was a poor man, named Lazarus. Perhaps Jesus picked the name Lazarus because it is the Greek form of the Hebrew name which means God, the Helper. Lazarus was not righteous because he was poor but because he depended on God. The text says Lazarus begged for food every day, that he longed to eat the scraps from the rich man’s table.
Then one day, both men died. The poor, terribly ill Lazarus was “carried by the angels to be with Abraham”— a place of after-life-paradise for Old Testament believers. Lazarus had trusted in God.
The rich man also died, was buried, and it says “his soul went to the place of the dead or Hades.” While there in torment, he saw Abraham and Lazarus alive and at peace.
In desperation, the rich man shouted, “Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in these flames.”
But Abraham said to him, “Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. Anyone who wanted to cross over to you from here is stopped at its edge, and no one there can cross over to us.”
Then the great rich man stood before the throne awaiting judgment, according to what he had done and what he had not done … according to the books.
How we live matters to God, how we love others matters to God. God saw Lazarus and God saw the rich man.
James 4:17 says, anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
May we look for ways to do good, to love others, to see needs, share and serve. May we look more like Jesus day by day.
Donielle Winter
EFCC Member