Perfected

2 Corinthians 5:10 & 17
10 for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

One of the mental images I believe the Holy Spirit gave me years ago was about finally meeting Christ face to face before that judgment seat. I’ve only shared it a few times and no one seems as wowed by it as I am. It was certainly meant for me.  But I think it speaks of what the reality of anyone entering into eternal life with Christ will be like.  As believers in Jesus we’re prepared but we’re not perfect.  That moment of meeting is more than a pat on the head with a “well-done,” because life-saving reality requires absolute reality.

This is my vision of absolute reality,  I am wrapped in Jesus’s arms,  prepared for eternity…but first…I see my life for the first time through Christ’s eyes, like a movie.  Frankly some of what I have to see makes me weep tears of sadness that I missed the mark so many times.  But they are not tears of guilt or punishment, they are the final cleansing.  They are the tears of purification.  There in Christ’s arms, preparation turns into perfection; the purification of the heart, soul, mind and strength that knows the absolute reality of life and love that will last all of eternity.

In my own grief since Ken’s unexpected death, only last Friday morning that image comforts me in a new way.  This time it was my husband wrapped in Jesus’s arms being loved and assured that his preparation in life is now the absolute reality of the purification of his heart, soul, mind and strength.  He is loved by Jesus and perfect, forever.   There’s a newer memory that comforts me too, something Ken repeated only last Thursday evening, Jesus Loves Me, This I know.  I can easily imagine Ken singing that simple song he believed was the essence of his Faith, that next morning wrapped in Jesus’s arms, knowing he was right all along.