30 April 2023

'... judged of your works,'


Mormon, the man who abridged and complied what we have today as the Book of Mormon, had a pretty tough time of it. His times (4th century CE) were very hard with his nation in decadent decline and enemies working to wipe them completely from the earth. Mormon knew that their salvation from a fate of destruction was turning back to God, both individually and collectively, but all of his efforts were ineffective.

The Lord told Mormon that he didn't have to preach to his people anymore as they had rebelled.

Vengeance is mine, and I will repay; and because this people repented not after I had delivered them, behold, they shall be cut off from the face of the earth.

Although we don't remember it, we actually agreed to come to mortality and to the earth and said we would accept the Lord's offer to make it happen.  This fact is what gives Jesus the right to be vindictive about our ingratitude at what he has and does provide.  It also makes Christ the judge of your behavior (too late, you already agreed to it and you have been mooching off the Lord's generosity for years so you owe him) as below:  

Mormon 3:20
And these things doth the Spirit manifest unto me; therefore I write unto you all. And for this cause I write unto you, that ye may know that ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil;

Obviously, Christ judges us based on the commandments he gave us and our obedience to him.  It seems that "teddy-bear-Jesus" isn't making much of an appearance as the time for forgiveness will have passed.  Our opportunity to access Jesus' redemption ends and his judgement comes.

As always, a message to take away is to work out your ultimate reward during life.  Since you don't know how long your life will be, you should get busy doing what is needed to get the reward you desire.  You may be able to make some changes after death and improve your fate, but don't depend on it.  Do it now.