How we live every day is important. Why? Because we all have to give an account of ourselves to God. This is a truth that everyone should take seriously. Paul put it like this.
Romans 14:10-12 (ESV)
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Notice the scope of Paul’s words. No one can escape the day of judgment. Can you imagine what a day that will be? There will be gathered before the throne of God every kind of person. The rich, poor, educated, uneducated, males, females, etc. Everyone will be there. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles, employers, employees, friends, enemies, etc., will all be gathered there, at which time there will be a great separation (Matthew 25:31-33).
Where will you be standing on the day of judgment? On that day we will see all men standing before the throne, stripped of all their pretenses and hypocrisies, appearing before Christ to be judged. We will see the greatest collection of sinners that have ever been assembled. They will be gathered together without regard to the station they occupied in life. The petty sinner will be standing next to the glorious sinner. The rich sinner will be standing next to the poor sinner. The common drunk will be standing next to the wicked world leader. Can you picture that? Everyone who ever lived and died in sin will be in the judgment line waiting to be judged.
Cain will be there. Hitler will be there. There will be presidents, popes, and even preachers standing there. What a frightful group that will be. A multitude of thieves, murderers, drunkards, etc. will be standing there. Furthermore, this group will not be limited to those who commit overt acts of sin. Those who commit the more subtle sins will be there too. Those who are full of unkindness will be standing there. Those who hold grudges, refusing to forgive others will be standing there. Those who think that God deserves only one hour of their time a week will be standing there. Those who play the hypocrite, fooling others into thinking that they are living righteously but are not, will be standing there as well. Everyone who has any sin in their lives will be standing there with all the other sinners waiting to hear the words of Jesus, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
I wish that people in the world knew enough to be afraid of that great day. The day of judgment is coming. The good news, for those who are Christians, is that we do not have to fear the day of judgment. We can have confidence that our verdict will be favorable because our sins have been washed away by the blood of Christ. The only thing that will cause us to fear is a lack of faith in the love of God and His willingness to keep His word.
1 John 4:17-18 (ESV)
17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
As you wind down for the night, think about these things.