Hopefully God will weigh my good and my bad deeds

One of the things I used to tell my students in preparing for exams was “Know thy Prof!  What does he or she think is important, what does he or she require of you?”  Well its good advice if you want to get through the exam.  I think it is also relevant to the “final exam”.

 There is another modern saying that I want to twist slightly. “It is not what you know, but who you know". Speaking of that day when we will all be called to account,  He tells that He will hear “Did we not prophesied in Your name ... drive out daemons, ... do many mighty works... ”. His answer is telling “Depart from me ...., I never knew you”.   His main requirement then,  is that we entered into relationship with Him by accepting His forgiveness for our bad deeds  and turning from them. He is the Judged, He is the one with all authority. Would it not make sense to “Know thy Judge” . On the other hand, He wants to show mercy, and offers it freely to those who will turn to Him.  He paid an incredible price for you and for me on the cross so that “Justice and Mercy could kiss”.  

There are a couple of things the Bible makes clear, the first is that we all fall short. Jesus is the standard. He was at all points tempted as we are,  yet without sin. So the standard is perfection (see Mercy or Judgement post), and so it cannot be of good works (Ephesians 2:8). Surly in many things we all fail.

The other scary thing, if you think about it, it that our ability to rationalize knows no bounds. Can you imagine standing before Him on that day and saying “Isn't it all relative? There are no absolutes!” I can imagine His answer “You believed a lie”.  The good news, is that He has provided a way, the only way actually.  He paid for our sin, so that He might be just and the Justifier of those who trust in Him (Romans 3:26) . If there had been any other way, would He have sent His Son to die a horrible death in place of you and me (John 3:16)? And how shall we escape of we neglect such a great salvation (Hebrews 2:3)?