The Appearance

 "For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body." 2 Corinthians 5:10

In the above Scripture, Paul is speaking of the judgement of the believer, of the judgement every follower of Christ must undergo as the Lord determines the degree of faithfulness that we have lived out, or, sadly, where the lack of such has been. It's a sobering thought, for each one who professes to be His will give an account of how we have lived out our life in Him. As someone said, what we DO with Jesus Christ will determine where we spend eternity. How we live in Him will determine HOW we spend eternity. As I said, this is a sobering reality. I must add the even more chilling truth. Those who have rejected the Lordship and offer of life in Christ in this life have already been judged. They will enter eternity separated from Him....forever. This is not me saying this. He spoke it. That truth is seen throughout His Word.

A.W. Tozer tells the story of a friend who had just completed a long series of preaching appointments. He said to Tozer, "I am preached out, and I must wait on the Lord. There are some spiritual matters that I want to get straightened out. I want to appear before the judgement seat now while I can do something about it."

Would that each of us had that same sense of urgency to come before Him and deal with the issues in our lives that hinder and harm us spiritually. Too few of us do. Too few of us feel the matters are either urgent or needed. His still small voice whispers to our hearts about those things that are displeasing to Him. Things that not only wound His heart, but the hearts of those around us. We rationalize or excuse these things. We tell ourselves that we're only human and that they're not that great of a problem. The more we do this the more His voice recedes and the more we do not hear.....until we don't hear Him at all. He hasn't stopped speaking, but our hearts have become too hard to hear His voice. When He speaks to us about something, His time for our response is always, "Now." Our time rarely is.

Tozer's friend did not wish to wait until He stood before His Lord in eternity to address his lack. He feared doing so. At that point, it would be too late and he would have to account for why he'd allowed something that the Lord had dealt with him about to be ignored. I believe it was Daniel Webster that said the thought that kept him from sleep at night was the realization that he would one day have to stand before His Lord and account for his life and how he'd lived it out in His name. Like Tozer's friend, he wanted to deal with his issues now....while he could still do something about them.

How about you and me? There's no doubt we have issues. Do we come to Him and honestly address them and then obey His words on how we overcome them? If we don't, are we prepared for the alternative? 

Blessings,
Pastor O