Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Romans 14:12, “So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.”

Background

Perhaps you’ve been to this type of restaurant, where you pay your bill by going up to the counter and telling the cashier what you had to eat and drink, and she simply took your word for it and charged you accordingly. No paperwork, no ticket, no merchant copy and customer copy. You simply gave an account of what you had and paid what you owed. That type of informality harkens back to the days of the family-owned restaurants of rural America, where menus were simple, customers were regulars, and people trusted one another. So think of how unnatural and uncomfortable it would have been if a customer told the cashier what he had eaten, and the cashier didn’t believe him. She simply replied that she knew he ordered more than he was trying to pay for. And then, how much sense would it make if the customer defended his misleading by saying that he might actually owe more than he claimed, but plenty of other customers ate way more than he did? In fact, they ate more, and they had unhealthy desserts and alcoholic beverages. It’s a ridiculous, futile rabbit trail to go down, one that could not end well for the customer.

Application

Each of us will one day lay our account out before the Lord. And when we do, we won’t be able to leave off the parts that we don’t want to pay for. We won’t catch any breaks because someone else was less forthright or more frivolous than we were. Even our accomplishments and successes will be in vain if they fostered within us an attitude of superiority or a tendency to look down on those with lower standards. When you pay the cashier, it’s according to their menu and their prices. When we account to God, it’s in relation to His expectations and our obedience alone. No one else factors into it. What rung we cling to on our ladder of holier-than-thou is of no relevance. It’s just you and God. So fix your eyes on Him now, so you’ll willingly and joyfully gaze on Him then.

Charge

As we seek Him today, waste no more time judging others and rating yourself according to your ledger. Let God draw you toward Himself and away from those irrelevant distractions.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words