The Lord announces the end has come. The end will come. You will stand before a judge. There’s nothing in the Bible that says on that day you’ll point out that you raised your hand in church or went forward for an altar call. There’s nothing about how you will “plead the blood of Jesus” or how if you state the doctrine of substitutionary atonement you’ll be given a pass.

The Lord will judge us by our deeds, our actions, how we lived our lives. We can have our sins forgiven and removed from His sight. But if we’re living in sin and selfishness instead of in holiness and love toward others, we’re not doing well on Judgment Day.

Some teach you just lose your rewards in such a case. Others teach you go to hell. We see both in Scripture. The parable of the talents shows both. There is a differing level of reward based on performance, one gets put in charge of ten cities and another just five, but the one who doesn’t perform, acting in fear instead, is thrown into hell.

What does your life show? At the end, the saints are dressed in the pure white of our righteous acts. Those with spots and blemishes on their garments are thrown out.

Are you living a pure-white life?

God promises to punish the Israelites. Should we have fear of punishment? I would say no. If you are not in danger of hell, then you are not in danger of punishment. Jesus took our sin-punishment on the cross. We don’t have to bear the weight of our sin.

There is discipline. We have a healthy fear of our loving Father who will help us choose Him and His ways. But, it’s always something we can be thankful for.

Paul talks about feeling like he was going to die, but how that was a gift to teach him to rely on God and not himself. It’s all a blessing to a child of God. Make sure you are His.