| “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.-” |
| —Romans 14:12 |
My father served as the treasurer of the church I attended growing up for just over 25 years. My mother, who had been trained as a bookkeeper, made very precise entries into a journal using the double-entry system of bookkeeping. I can still see her holding her special bookkeeper’s fountain pen and carefully making those precise entries during that time in the 1950s and 1960s, well before personal computers and software like QuickBooks®, or even personal calculators.
Once a year, the auditors appointed by the church would come to our house and collect the books. It was a day of reckoning. Did every entry balance? Were all the funds accounted for properly? This auditing process was particularly important because a previous treasurer had embezzled thousands of dollars from the church over a period of many years. Such a catastrophe must not be allowed to happen again. Of course, because of the diligence of my parents, the books were always spot on—no errors, every amount balancing to the penny.
The Apostle Paul talks about a day of reckoning for every human being in Romans 14:11-12:
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.
How will we fare on that day? We who have responded to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and have acknowledged God’s gift of salvation through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ will find that the “books” of our lives will already be stamped “Approved” by means of the very blood of Christ our Savior and Lord. We will pass the test—not on our own merit, but because we already belong to God. We will meet this day of reckoning without fear. For, by acknowledging God’s claim on our lives, we have already bowed our knees in fealty to Christ.
Let us rejoice at the beginning of this new day that our place in heaven is secure. Yet, we have done nothing on our own to deserve God’s mercy, nor to reserve our place forever with Him. Our place of honor on that day of reckoning comes solely as God’s precious gift to us of His mercy, grace, and unfailing love.
Praise God for His immeasurable love for us. We are, of all humankind, most blessed.
Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, April 18, 2016
