April 21st

Knowing God's Plan

His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. Isaiah 11:3-4

Does the idea of God as judge scare you?

It should, to a degree. But-and this is a big but-knowing how God judges us helps us know that we can trust Him. Here's what you need to know:

God will not judge us emotionally; He will judge us faithfully. God isn't fickle or moody. He is a God of love who judges us faithfully-righteously faithful to the truth.

God also judges us righteously faithful to the cross, according to whether or not your life has been sprinkled by the blood of Jesus. It doesn't matter whether we like this or not, because this is the standard by which we will be judged. The fact is that we have all sinned, which means that we will be condemned to Hell unless we hide ourselves under the blood of Jesus.

If Jesus hasn't paid for it all in your life, then you still owe a debt you'll never be able to pay. And because God doesn't judge emotionally, He will never say, Well, Jimmy doesn't have the blood covering him, but I really like him, so I'll just say that he's okay. No. God judges righteously faithful to the cross.

God will also judge us based on the Spirit of God. Is the Spirit of God residing in you? Is He active in your life? Are you following Him how He leads you? Are you letting Him bring out His character inside of you? Because Jesus died on the cross and then gave you His very own Spirit, and He doesn't want you to live like His Spirit is some fourth-class gift, given a place of dishonor in your life where you ignore Him all the time.

God will judge us based on these things, and He's told us about it ahead of time so that we are not caught unaware. It won't be a surprise on that day when we stand before Him; there will be no Gotcha! moment.

So now you know what you will face when you stand before God. Are you ready?

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You that You are a righteous and faithful judge! Thank You for telling me what You desire to see in me now and on that day! Please help me to be faithful in all of these things so that I may hear You say, Well done!

Amen