The Final Say

I met a young man today and we were picking at each other about our football teams we like. He likes the Cowboys and I the Steelers. As we were bantering KINDLY back forth I finally gave him my pat argument to settle it all, “Who has the most Super Bowl rings?!”  We both, though, were of the realization its just a game and enjoyed the friendly and lighthearted joking around.  It’s good to joke around with other believers who know some things aren’t really worth fighting about, there are other bigger fish to fry, so to speak.

One day everyone will stand before the Lord and then there will be no reasoning that we can resort to in besting Him?  There will be a final say, all excuses will not stand, all rationalizing will give way to truth, period !    But there will also be, for the believer, a time of great joy in the rewards He will dole out for those who have typically stood on truth and strived to live for Him.  We do tend to think of judgment as purely negative and though there is that part of it, there will be at the Judgment Seat of Christ a positive side.   Have you ever been evaluated and thanked for a job well done or someone has appraised your service, even if in a small way, and thanked you for your contribution at church?

This young man grew up a “PK” (Preacher’s Kid) and was asking my wife how she liked her role as a Pastor’s wife and did she ever have someone in the church show her appreciation for the things she does there saying that his mom and dad often didn’t.  He appeared a little wounded.  We all tend to take each other for granted, we all need to be better at encouraging one another by noticing the things done for Christ and offering a word of thanks from time to time.   But when we give it and receive it, its a foretaste of positive judgment indeed.    But the bottom line is the pat argument we need to always keep in mind to keep from getting wounded, hardened, feeling underappreciated, etc. is that One knows all we do and in the end His judgment counts, not ours or theirs, but His  !!  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good (positive) or bad (negative)” [2Cor.5:10].