Christ did not come to excuse our sins. Christ came to make us righteous, holy, and obedient to God. In those areas of our personality and behavior in which we persist in unrighteousness, filthiness of spirit, and disobedience to God, we certainly shall reap corruption in place of eternal life.

To ignore this certainty and to maintain the present evangelical posture that God does not see our sinning is to insure a very bleak future for ourselves!

You cannot blame your pastor or teacher for leading you astray. You are responsible to search the Scriptures and determine for yourself what is true. It is the future of you and your family we are talking about!

Now, let's think for a moment about when we will reap what we have sown.

It is true, of course, that even in this life we reap what we sow.

If we are not careful with our diet and do not exercise we may get a heart attack. I did! It's no fun!

If we are not prudent with our spending we may end up bankrupt.

If we behave in an immoral fashion we may contract a dreadful disease.

If we smoke we may develop cancer.

If we are dishonest we may end up in prison.

If we overwork we may have an anxiety breakdown. I had this too. No fun!

But these penalties, however painful, are peanuts when it comes to the issue of the Day of Christ. In the Day of Christ we are going to reap what we have sown while in our body.

The body is of great importance in the plan of salvation. We will be rewarded or punished in our body.

There are numerous rewards that accrue to the believer who pursues the life of victory in Jesus. Many of these are listed in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation. They include eternal life, closeness to God, power, authority, freedom from the harm caused by the second death, and finally a permanent position with Christ in His throne.

The rewards are summed up in Revelation: "He who overcomes will inherit all the glory of God, and God will be his God and he will be God's son."

But we wish to limit ourselves at this point to one aspect of our reaping. It is that of the body from Heaven.

Two bodies are involved in the resurrection from the dead. The first body is that which we have now. It shall be raised from the dead. The body of every human being who has lived on the earth will be raised from the dead.

The second body is the body from Heaven, of II Corinthians. The body from Heaven is the robe we will be given. It will "swallow up" our newly resurrected body.

The point is, what kind of body will our heavenly body be?

You are deciding that right now. Your heavenly body is the result of your conduct, whether good or bad.

Every decision you make, every action you take, is affecting your body that is being fashioned before the Throne of God in Heaven.

If you are developing Christian character, if you are becoming a new righteous creation, then righteousness, holiness, obedience to God, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, teachableness, courage, self-control, kindliness, generosity, are being added to your robe, your body from Heaven, your crown.

To be continued.