In Romans 14:10-12 (NIV) we read that “…We will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”
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It seems to me that the standard by which we will be judged is the standard that, the Apostle Paul elsewhere makes clear, sums up all the moral teaching of the Bible, that is, the standard of love. Now for the sake of clarity, allow me to define the word love with another word that seems to me to best indicate what love is. That word is “helpfulness.” So what we will be giving an account to God about is to what extent, if any, we lived helpful lives.
Such helpful living is contingent upon the extent we listen to God. Only he knows in what ways he wants us to be helpful. And only he has the power to make it happen and help us help others. Consequently it behooves us examine ourselves daily in the presence of the Lord and, in effect, call on him to judge how we lived the day. “Lord, did I listen to you today? Where was I on target? Where did I stray off course?”
Consider this, if we will but take the time to give an account of ourselves to God each day, when the time comes for us to actually stand before God’s judgment seat, it will be for us just another day.
