'Their deeds follow them'

"And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. 'Blessed indeed,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them'" (Revelation 14:13).

I was alarmed when I came across this verse today. Are you excited about having your deeds follow you into the next life?

The verse is speaking about the righteous of the earth, those who are saved by grace through faith, and not by works. It is these people of whom the Spirit says, "their deeds follow them."

"But I thought it wasn't about deeds when you are saved by grace!" someone will cry. It isn't really so complicated: Salvation has nothing to do with earnings, but it does have to do with deeds. James said it clearly enough in his epistle, and he and Paul do not contradict each other.

Paul talked about the train of deeds we will pull behind us too:

". . . each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is built up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).

In the very next verse in the letter to the Corinthians, Paul is asking them if they have a clue that the Holy Spirit lives in them. Because if they really understood that-and how solemn that is, how holy that is, how much transformational power it makes available to them-they would not continue in such dissolute practices as he is presently rebuking them for.

"It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). It is evident that for the blessed people spoken of in Revelation 14:13, it is a pleasing thought that their deeds will ride their coattails. They have done well. They have lived in total commitment to God and kept themselves unstained from the world.

Every day that you and I live is unrepeatable. It's all about choices: We can live the duration in conscious, daily, obedient faith, or we can live in spiritual sloth and what Jesus rejected as "lukewarm" (Revelation 3:16). When the time comes, I want gold and silver jingling behind me, not rattling kindling wood. And I am sure you want the same.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.