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"But why do you judge your brother?
Or why do you show contempt for your brother?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
For it is written:
'As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.'
So then each of us shall give account of himself to God."
(Romans 14:10-12)
All human beings shall give an account to God of how they lived their lives on earth. The God who created us and gives us every gift will require an answer for how we lived our lives. Does that not give you a moment of contemplation and motivation? It does for me. Even those who hate God, atheists who say they do not believe God exists, and agnostics who believe there is no way to know God all will stand before the Lord God Almighty, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. We must stand before God alone. I cannot come to your side and neither can you come to mine on that awesome day of accountability.
Romans 1:20 teaches us that mankind is without excuse when it comes to knowing God exists. He has manifested His existence and power in marvelous ways. Creation literally shouts that God is! Psalm 19:1-3 states:
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard."
Another powerful witness that God gives humanity is our conscience, which Proverbs 20:27 calls "the lamp of the LORD that sheds light on one's inmost being" (NIV). We all have a sense of oughtness, what is right and what is wrong. Morality cannot come into being through evolution over long periods of time. Matter cannot produce intelligence, feelings, or abstract ideas. Human beings have intelligence, feelings, abstract ideas, and an innate sense of ethics and morality. This can only come from an immaterial moral Being who preceded us and created us. The Bible teaches us that this Supreme Being is the one and only Almighty God, Creator of all.
Life is sacred because every human being is imago Dei, created in the image of God. God's gift to us is life itself, and our gift back to God is how we live this life which He has so graciously entrusted to us. I want to work out my salvation here on earth with fear and trembling, as Paul writes in Philippians 2:12. I work because I have been saved by God, not in order to earn my salvation. I am also motivated by the fact of a day of reckoning and accountability. How well did I steward the gifts and resources granted to me by God? Did I waste those gifts and abilities, or did I use them for the glory of God and the betterment of the world? I do not know what that day will look like, but it sure does motivate me to do good works. I cannot help but wonder if, for example, the Germans living in the 1930s and 40s, when 6 million Jews were massacred in the Holocaust, will be asked what they did to help. Likewise, will God ask Americans living after the Roe v. Wade decision, when over 60 million babies were murdered, "What did you do to help?"
How well are you living in preparation for that day of days when you appear before God?
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