18 May 2025

PREPARE TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT

(Biblical & Spiritual Exhortations: BSE 12)

The Bible tells us that “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the Judgement” (Heb.9:27). This is for all mankind as well as for the Christian. We will have to face our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ at His Judgement Seat and give an account of our lives to Him. The Apostle Paul gives this warning: “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad…So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God” (2 Cor.5:9-10; Rom.14:12). Let us remember that all the Epistles of the NT are written to the Church – to all who are committed to the Lordship of Christ. All believers must give an account to God.

This is a very sobering reminder that we must be careful how we live in this life. This Judgement is about how we have lived or done as believers in Christ. It is like a reporting session before the Lord. Notice that this judgement will be “according to what he has done, whether good or bad”. That is, how we have lived our life on earth and what we have done or not done for His Kingdom. We will then be recompensed accordingly by the Lord.

How then do we prepare ourselves for this eventful appointment with our Lord? Paul tells us that we should “make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him”. Our lives must always be lived to please the Lord. To please the Lord means to be acceptable to Him or approved by Him. In other words, He is happy with us for the way we live and serve Him while on earth. We have become the salt and the light that bring glory to Him.

Here are some ways to ensure that we are pleasing to Him:

1. We present our bodies as a living sacrifice: “holy, acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship, and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. (Rom.12:1-2).


2. We make Jesus Christ the Lord of our Lives: “For none of us lives to himself…For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose again, that He might be Lord of both the living and the dead” (Rom.14:7-9). Jesus is the Lord of all and Lord over us.


3. We must love and serve one another: “A new command I give you; that you love one another as I have loved you. By love serve one another. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another” (Jn 13:34; Gal.5:13b, Rom. 14:18-19). Jesus also said, “I have given you an Example that you should do as I have done to you” (Jn 13:15). And that is to wash one another’s feet!

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