For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:10
The Bible consistently tells us about a judgement after our physical death. We don't know exactly how this judgement will happen but we do know that we will each be judged individually and we can decipher that our judgement will be based around God asking two questions:
1) What have you done with my Son, Jesus Christ?
2) What have you done with the gifts, talents, and abilities I have give you?
These questions are going to be asked us after our physical death so it is important for us to consider them now. None of us know when or how we will die. It could be that we live another 60 years or we may die tomorrow. It is possible that we will see it coming and have time to prepare, or it may happen in the blink of an eye. The only thing we know for certain is that we are currently alive on this earth and one day we will die and leave this earth.
Keeping this in mind is essential to truly living our lives to the fullest and making the most of every moment. It should also direct us to consider the above questions now, while we can still make a decision to change.
1) What have you done with my Son, Jesus Christ?
Essentially this is the question of salvation. Regardless of what you have heard or believe Jesus Christ was a real man who was, and is, really God. I have conversed with Him consistently through out my life. Some may call me crazy but I know that my experience with Jesus is real. In the roughest time of my life, when no one else was there to comfort me or reach out to me, Jesus was the one who comforted me. When I faced what seemed like an insurmountable fear, keeping me from achieving (or even pursuing) my dreams, Jesus was the one who miraculously delivered me from that fear in an instant. Keep following my blog and I am sure you will get a chance to read more detailed versions of my testimony but the point is I can tell you with zero doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ is real and He is God and He is alive and working today!
Jesus did come to this earth as God in flesh, He did live a life as a human, He was beaten and bloodied, and He did die on the cross taking on all of your sins. He did that all for you! But the good news is that He also rose from the dead and conquered sin and is now calling you into a relationship with Him!
So what are you going to do about it?
Are you going to accept the call or are you going to ignore it? Are you going to accept Jesus' sacrifice and enter into the eternal life that He has provided for you or are you going to continue in your sins and ultimately enter the eternal death that He warned us about?
Your answer determines where you spend eternity!
If you have not made a decision to accept the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross then I encourage you to visit my new page What is the Gospel. Just click on the link or click on the tab at the top of this page. There I have laid out the good news of Jesus Christ and how to accept Him as Lord and Savior.
If you have already accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior over your life then you are ready to go on to the next question:
2) What have you done with the gifts, talents, and abilities I have given you?
When God created you He placed in you certain talents and abilities. Are you using them or letting them go to waste? What are you doing to develop them?
Jesus tells us a story in Matthew 25:14-30 about a man who goes on a journey. Before he leaves he calls three of his servants to him and gives them all a certain amount of money. When the man returns he finds that two of the servants were faithful and doubled the amount of money that was given them and the master responds with "well done, good and faithful servant" (v23). But the third servant was scared and buried the money that was given him. He returns it with no increase and the master calls him a "wicked and lazy servant"!
That is a pretty stark contrast in responses to the two different servants! Think about your life.
If you were to die today would Jesus consider your life thus far to be 'good and faithful' or 'wicked and lazy'?
What do you need to change in order to be good and faithful?
Note: These two questions were inspired by Rick Warren's book A Purpose Driven Life.
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