How to earn a special position in heaven.

I wonder if I need to do something special in this world to have a better role or position as a reward in the eternity.

Do my actions on Earth determine that? Or will we all have the same role?

Probably not the same role, based on just how all things work with hierarchies in everything in this world and in the Bible, right?

Even with Jesus there were levels of closeness to Him: Peter, John and James were closer than others (Matthew 17:1, Mark 14:33, Mark 5:37), Lasarus and his family were very dear to Jesus (John 11:5).

How can Paul not have a better position than one of seven deacons chosen by apostles (Acts 6:3) or Rhoda (Acts 12:13)? 

I believe it will all be fair when we come to heaven, since God is love (1 John 4:8) and the foundation of His throne are righteousness and  justice (Psalm 89:14).

And we all will be good and happy there, especially since there is no sin (Revelation 21:27).  But do our actions here on earth determine our position there?

We know that our actions and decisions determine if we will go to heaven or hell, but what about the position in heaven, how close we will live to Jesus, or what role we will play.

In which part of the New Jerusalem will we live? Closer to the center or to the walls or gates? Can I do something to change it?

Here is what we see in the Bible about Heavenly relationship, in Whose likeness and image we were created: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit do not fight or covet after each other’s positions (do not covet is a Commandment, which is the nature of God, no?), they are together in perfect harmony (John 5:19), they don’t get jealous nor want the other’s role, they love each other and work with each other, and even complement each other (John 16:7).

Maybe that is how it will be with us. And to me that is an EXCITING thought!

We will just be absolutely content and happy with all our positions, because our collective work, and aim, and life will simply achieve whatever heavenly goals there will be.

It will be as those rare moments on earth when we did something as a team and everyone played his/her role and nobody slacked and everyone is just happy with the results, and we were moving as one, together.

There will not be individual merit nor praise nor goal.

The devil is the one that started the corruptive movement of individualism and individual merit; he was the first who wanted to achieve something on his own and for his self (Isaiah 14:13), and that was his downfall (Isaiah 14:15); the devil detached self from the harmony and oneness of Heaven.

The devil offered that to Eve as well, he presented it as if she will know things separately from God because she will herself be like God (Genesis 3:5).

Knowledge leads to decisions, and decisions to individual praise and recognition; devil is deceived and is still trying to sell the lie he was himself enslaved by. 

Today, the worship of the individual is abominably high, and the title question of this article stems from the same corrupt root that destroyed the once glorious Lucifer, and turned him into the worst devil there is: individual merit and individual reward.

Here is another question: wasn’t David acting in such a way and thought in such a way that God liked him so much that He modeled Jesus’s Kingdom after him? Was that David’s effort that landed him such a blessing, since God promised David to keep a king from his lineage for ever (2 Samuel 7)?

Did God “discover” David, did David impress God so much that he was noticed by the Almighty?

Or did God put into David all the needed ingridients and life circumstances to turn David into what God needed?

Well, David himself said that “there is none who does good, not even one”, (including David), and Jesus (Mark 10:18) and Paul (Romans 3:10-12) repeated the same thing, so it must be something that God does, not our merit, and not David’s.

Bottom line is that we don’t need to work especially hard now WITH A GOAL to earn a special position in Heaven.

Jesus answered to his disciples that its not up to Him nor us to decide who will sit at the right hand of God (Mark 10:40), but we will drink His cup, and that is certain (Mark 10:39).

Don’t worry about that part, the Creator of the universe figured it out perfectly. But we do need to do our part, what God is telling us to do now.

He prepared the good works for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), so we got to do them. God prompts us and gives us the will the the act of doing His will (Philippians 2:13).

And He instructs us that it is up to us to figure out His will (Ephesians 5:17, Romans 12:2)). I dont think He says it because He hides it, but because we need to make a decision to step unto the part that leads to the perfect future unity, and He helps when we decide.

He said that we are to seek Him and he is not far from each of us (Acts 17:27). We need to make the decision to seek God and His will, then when find His will we are to obey.

And that is our part.

It is up to God to decide our position in heaven according to His own criteria and plan.

Jesus went through the valley of humility before He was exalted (Philippians 2:5-7), join Him on that journey.

So the answer to the question on how to earn a better position in Heaven is: find and do God’s will and trust God that He will do what is best for ALL when the time comes.

Amen