It makes me wonder how we’ll react to such a pecking order.
***See how you call it a ‘pecking order’, similar to how birds peck eachother, etc.? That’s the worldly way of looking at it. We will be much more inclined towards a spiritually healthy way of looking at things in the next life, and God will give us bodies that don’t decay & are inclined towards heaven. So... how will we look at it with this new inclination? We’ll be excited for others at what they accomplished for God, saying attaboy & cheering them on as they throw their crowns at God’s feet.
That verse sounds like this to me: “Well done, good and faithful servant, but don’t get too comfortable here because we have ANOTHER round of judgments coming up.”
***There’s only 2 judgements as far as I can tell. The first one deciding whether you’re in or out, whether we’re a sheep or a goat. And the second one, looking at what we did here and parceling out rewards.
I truly hope I’m reading into it things that aren’t there,
***I think you are but I’m no expert. This is one of those sandboxes where religious folks like to play in. I don’t put much stock in religiosity — we have a simple faith and God encourages childlike, straightforward, innocent faith in Him. “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Me.”
b/c it sounds we can’t relax for a microsecond, even in the millennial kingdom due to yet another series of judgments coming down on us.
***Maybe this is God’s way of spurring you on to earn a few crowns in heaven, who knows?
Basically it seems like until we make it into the New Heaven and New Earth, we could still not make the cut.
***You will make the cut. Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.
This is the way I read it, too;
Of course; there may be OTHER teachings out there, but I've yet to see any that held water - when compared to the testimony of the Scriptures.