Dear Editor,
One of the most difficult points of explanation in Christianity is how God judges humans.
We live in a performance based world. People are judged by others based upon their success.
We have standings, rankings, hall of fames, awards, rewards, honors, trophies, plaques, certificates, ribbons, pay scales, merit increases, ratings, promotions, demotions, grade levels, graduations, power polls, pecking orders, places, positions, status, stars, heroes and favorites. Every one of these categories has to do with being judged upon works, talents and abilities.
So, the question would be; why wouldnt God judge on the same basis that we as humans judge?
If a person is good in his field or changes the world for better, shouldn’t he automatically be qualified to enter Gods heaven based upon his worth to the world?
If a person is horrible and has destroyed more than he has done well, shouldn’t he automatically be excommunicated from heaven based upon his worth to humanity?
We join together at funerals of those who have passed before us to remember and memorialize the actions of the deceased. As the family and friends gather it doesn’t really matter any longer how the person really lived their life. Once they have died we assume they are in a better place based upon our sympathetic judgment of the good things they have done.
Its a crime, in our world today, to look at the life of the deceased through the lens of their belief about the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, this is the basis for how God judges a persons life.
God knows that all of humanity is fallen. We have all fallen short of His glorious standard. This reality then places us at the mercy of God if we are going to be forgiven and saved from our sin.
Good works, success in this world or our worth to humanity cannot cancel a single sin. Once the human has sinned against a Holy God they are condemned. And to make matters even worse, God has accounted the sin of the first man, Adam, to every human being that has be born into this world. So, we are all sinners by our own human nature and by our actions of unbelief.
So, to try and get right with God by doing things and stuff is impossible. But salvation is possible with God.
See, God did for us that which we could not do for ourselves. He has the ability to forgive sin. He can justify a fallen person right with Himself by way of His own declaration. According to Scripture He declares us right with Himself when we place our faith, trust, belief and reliance upon Jesus work at the cross.
We can trust what Christ has done for us because He rose from the dead. Death did not have a hold on Jesus because there was no sin in Him by nature or by action. This proves that Jesus is worthy to pay the price God requires for our sin.
So, when we believe in our hearts that Jesus is alive and confess with our tongue that He is Lord we will be saved.
I pray you will come to understand that Jesus is the only way back to the Father. Then you will understand how to rightly judge as God judges.
Pastor Thomas R. Swain
First Church of God
Great Bend