Introduction
The “currency of heaven” post established that the soul earns heaven glory currency while suffering according to God’s will is doing good, for righteousness, and Christ’s sake is earned on earth when the soul suffers. Therefore, glory is the measure of wealth in heaven. The Bible established that Jesus has the most glory among the sons of God.
The link for the currency of heaven post-
https://sincerelawrence.com/2020/10/31/currency-of-heaven-10min-read/
This reflection explores scriptures to approximate a wealth ranking among God’s sons in heaven and its significance to the personal glory production on earth.
The following visual illustration recaps the mentioned two posts and two other posts https://sincerelawrence.com/2020/10/27/once-saved-always-saved-10min-read/ and https://sincerelawrence.com/2020/10/27/faith-and-work-in-harmony-4min-read/.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit Engaging Spirit, Soul and Body of Man
The tree represents the believer’s body on earth. The part of the tree above the ground represents the body of a man. The soul’s roots, like the body, spans both domains, Domain of the Law of Sin and Death (DOSD) and Domain of the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (DOL). The salvation of the born again spirit is secure in Christ is grounded in Abba God’s love to save man through Christ (John3:16) is in the DOL.
It is noteworthy that both Domains exist as part of the will of God.
The soul that sins shall die dwells in the DOSD operates from the old covenant (Eze18:20). The born again spirit anchors the soul that sins in the DOL. Therefore the soul that sins does not need to die based on the new covenant. Refer to the post “Once Saved Always Saved” for scriptural evidence of this claim.
The soul’s salvation is proportional to the degree to which the soul’s roots can bind themselves into the ground of Abba God’s love shown through Christ. In human experience terms, this binding is called attachment experience.
This attachment with God is similar to the attachment man develops at birth with their early childhood caregiver. First, the natural, then the spiritual (1Co15:46). Man’s failure to understand their human attachment experiences poses challenges to form an attachment with God. This failure hampers the necessary foundation for the attachment with God, which is spiritual.
The tree is exposed to the lot of life presented as a fire below the tree. This fire’s size and intensity vary according to God’s will and the person’s response to God’s will. Some fires of the lot of life are candlelight fire, and they are towering infernos for others. Regardless, the leaves of the body in the DOL catches fire when the body and soul suffer for Christ’s sake and righteousness sakes due to the fires.
The lot of life affects the tree in the DOSD. But the tree does not catch fire in this part of the domain due to the tree’s death state. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and pride of life enslaves the tree that’s in DOSD. Glory production does not exist in this domain.
This suffering in the DOL produces the fruit of the spirit and eternal weight of glory, heaven’s currency, and tests the attachment with God.
Does the Bible offer clues who have more significant potential to earn glory currency on earth and who are at greater risk to make less glory currency on earth?
The answers to these two questions will be the backbone of the wealth ranking framework.
The Bible has identified specific groups of people that possess characteristics that support and challenge the production of glory.
People who have more significant opportunities for suffering support glory production are as follow-
- The fivefold ministry. (Eph4:11)
- The martyrs that died for Christ’s sake.
- The socially marginalized, such as widows, orphans, aliens (without rights of citizenship), and the poor (James2:5, Mat5:3, Luke16:25). In current vernacular, the special needs, the disabled, and the mentally challenged.
- The meek (Mat5:5) and sincere, appearing to be naïve pure children (Mat5:8, 18:4, 10, Mark10:15,) to the world, often taken advantage of and discriminated.
- The righteous, averse to dishonest gain. (Pet3:14)
People are challenged in glory production when they have received their reward from man and experience lesser opportunities for suffering (Mat6:4). Such people emerge from the following groups-
- The rich and powerful (Mat19:23, Mat6:24, Luke12:16-21) who
- Boast about the future without acknowledging God, which God deems as arrogance and evil (Jam4:16).
- Oppress the poor while living in-luxury themselves (Jam5:1, 4-5).
- Those who purpose to live life for themselves are unwilling to share with their fellow men in need, particularly the socially marginalized. (Mat25:35-40).
Based on the above groups of people identified, the wealth rankings take shape as follows.
The rankings involve believers making it to heaven, as the spirit is born again when one confesses, according to Rom10:9. In this way, some are poor in glory in heaven, while others are wealthier in glory.
The glory that the soul produces is only tangible eternal possession that man can truly claim as their own. Love, faith, and hope, the greatest of the 3, is love because love remains relevant in heaven for three reasons.
The first, God is love (1John4:7). The second reason, Jesus eternally bears the marks on His body paid out of love for us at the cross (John20:27). The third reason is related to glory. The glory each believer has produced is evidence of their genuine (tested by the fires in 1Pet1:7) love for God, expressed as sincere brotherly love for one another.
What is hoped and believed are manifested tangibly in heaven. There is no more need for this hope and faith in the unseen and promised.
The above ranking is to create awareness of this potential scenario in heaven. This awareness seeks to support identifying the real treasure, which is their glory earning potential on earth.
Do Not be Deceived
A caveat, this is not a get glory rich quick scheme. If one believes he can game God’s glory system, that person’s pipe dream is laughable. God foolishness is the wisdom of man (1Co1:25). God has in-place fail-safe controls to prevent such outcomes. They are
- God determines each person’s lot of life, which is the foundation for earning glory points. E.g., if God calls one to the fivefold ministry, God will supply the life situations to produce glory.
If one by the flesh (self-effort) seeks the fivefold ministry without God’s call to gain glory points, that is operating in the domain of the Law of Sin and Death. By default, glory production does not occur in that domain, and that person reaps the penalties that lead to death.
- God looks at the heart and not only at the action of the person. The heart motivation that underpins the action needs to be genuine faith in trusting God (1Pet1:7) and sincere love (1Pet1:22) that’s practical (James2) for people.
Hypocrisy and hidden agendas frustrate the glory production.
Avoid the Pitfalls
This reflection will explore the two groups of people to help them realize their glory production.
- The rich shall have the attitude to glory in their humiliation, realizing their wealth is vanity and vapor (Jam1:10).
Therefore the rich are to abstain from
-
- Boasting about the future as if one is God (Jam4:16)
- Oppressing others by corrupt ways for financial gain (Jam5:2)
- Hoarding wealth (Luke12:21) and trust in uncertain riches (1Tim6:17)
- Showing partiality by oppressing the socially marginalized (Jam2:9)
Therefore the rich are encouraged to be rich in good works, ready to give and willing to share. (1Tim6:18).
- The socially marginalized are encouraged to rejoice in their lot of life, for from it, God supplies the opportunity for glory production. (Jam1:9).
Both the rich and the socially marginalized are to adopt the prayer Apostle Paul made in Phil4:6 and 1The5:17-18.
Phil4:6 – “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.”
1The5:17-18 “Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Giving thanks in prayer and daily speech for everything that God has presented as one’s lot in life is the hallmark that God is looking for as evidence of this genuine faith that one professes to possess.
