For we must all of us appear before Christ’s judgement-seat in our true characters, in order that each may then receive an award for his actions in this life, in accordance with what he has done, whether it be good or whether it be worthless. ~II Corinthians 5:10
One day, we’re all going to stand before God, by ourselves, and give an account for our lives. When you actually grasp that, you’ll live your life differently. As I have been reflecting on this, here are some statements that I do not want to hear God say to me in that moment:
You didn’t you do what I told you to do – This implies that I know what God told me to do. “It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.” -Moliere
You let people hold you back from what I called you to do -Do I care more about what people think of me or what God thinks of me? I have to be careful that I don’t elevate the opinion of people over God.
You could have done ____ – One of my favorite stories is a story about a man who gets to Heaven and asks who the greatest preacher of all time was. An angel points to a man sitting on a bench. The man said, “That man wasn’t I a preacher, I knew him on earth, he was a janitor.” The angel replied, “I know. He would have been the greatest preacher of all time if he would have been a preacher.” That always hits home for me. I don’t want to be the best that I think I can be. I want to be the best that God thinks I can be.
You spent your life trying to be someone else – God doesn’t need another John Maxwell, Andy Stanley, Steven Furtick, or ____ (name your hero). He needs me to be everything He’s called me to be. When I get to Heaven, God isn’t going to ask me why I wasn’t more like my heroes. He’s going to ask me why I wasn’t all that He created us to be!
You didn’t put me first – Ouch.
You more concerned with money than you were pleasing me – Jesus said you can only have one master. You can’t serve both God and money. God said that if you’ll make Him your master, He’ll take care of you and make sure all of your needs are met. Trust God.
You Were Not a Good Steward of The Relationships and Gifts I Gave You – My wife is a gift from God. I am a steward of her life. How am I doing with that? God put gifts in me to be used for His glory. What am I doing with them?
Depart from me, I never Knew You -This is probably the scariest one. It’s always a reality check for me. Even though I know I am saved, I always want to make sure my relationship with God is real and not just something I acknowledge in my head.
Live your life with the reality that one day you’re going to stand before God and give an account for your life. I promise you, it will change everything about the way you live.
Thoughts?
If this post helped you and you believe it could help others, please recommend it on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, and the other social media sites listed below. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. Leave a comment below! Thank you!
I would also encourage you to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or e-mail! You can sign-up for e-mail by typing your e-mail address in the box on the left hand side of this site that says “E-mail
2 Responses
Gods law is a mirror to expose our sins. It is to beat us and show us how bad we are. It does not matter how much we pray, how much we give or even how good we think we are. Christianity is about justification, his righteousness credited to us. Not of our own works so no man can boast. (EPH 2 8-10) without this we are nothing and have no hope. Through this our hearts will change and want to do goods works, but never count on them for merit with God because all the work was already done for us by Christ. His works are the only works we can bring before God, everything else is just doing his will and being a servant.
I agree with you! Thanks for your comment!