AT THE END OF THE DAY

At the end of the day it will not matter what you did or did not do (by ways of good works) for the LORD. There are no do overs or redos in the LORD. At the end of the day what we have done for the LORD will be on full display for those standing around to see. There will be no talking, arguing, praying, discussing, or even horse trading. At the end of the day we all will stand before the LORD and the book will be opened and if our name is found in the Book of Life of the Lamb, "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Revelation 13:8) we go on to the Judgment Seat of Christ, "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 or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences." (2 Corinthians 5:10-11) and if not then we go to the Great White Throne, "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." (Revelation 20:11) to receive of our reward for not what we have done for the LORD, but for how we have done things for the LORD. God is not so concerned what we have done for Him, but He will be very concerned about how we have done things for Him. It is going to be not much done as most good, well intended Christians have been taught, but how done, how we did things for the LORD. Funny when you ask most pastors about their church they usually start with something like this, "well . . . we have about 100 members on Sunday (to be honest the mid-week service is a better gauge or determining factor of membership), we do this and/or that, but seldom do they talk about the spirituality of the members. Why are we so works focused? I guess it is easy enlarging our faith when we see a new building or new fellowship hall built, but now seeing spiritual growth and development as the LORD puts one through despair well that is a whole different focus. I will be honest I am as guilty as some pastors. When I pastored in Germany I would do the same thing thinking I was helping the LORD out impressing maybe a new member, but at the end of the day I was just embellishing the truth (most call it lying) to make things look better than they are. I wonder why we are so impressed by what we can do for the LORD? I wonder why we think the LORD is going to love us the more if we can do great things for Him? Great things for Him? He created the heavens (all three) and the earth, man, all we know and see, and we think building some building or big ministry to travel the world sharing this wondrous Gospel message impresses Him? Oh no my friend all of our good works, those good works we do for God are for our benefit not the LORD's. For it is in these good works in the hours of loneliness on planes, trains, and automobiles, in times of danger, in times of feast and famine, times what Paul calls the "terror of the LORD" in these times God can work in our heart and in our thoughts conforming us into the character and images of Jesus Christ, the LORD's grand goal in our lives. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist God the father openly spoke of His son, "this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." As to date (the Bible never recorded) Jesus had not started His earthly ministry. Jesus had not yet preached one message, made one disciple, or even performed one miracle. I wonder what made the Father so pleased with His son? Maybe it was the wonderful relationship the Father and Jesus had. Of course the Father knows all things and saw the day (in the future) that Jesus would be stretched out on the cross between heaven and earth for the atonement of our sin. Maybe it was the utter dependence Jesus had on the Father. Funny how today we think we are independent and we can handle things for the LORD. In John Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (John 5:19) We run around and say we have the power, brother do you have the power? And Jesus said he had a no power, "except for what the Father gives Him." Something is wrong here. As we walk with the LORD there are some very important things we must discover because soon we will find ourselves at the end of the day and it will be too late. We must learn we have no power, God is God and we are not! We must learn the only way we will ever be affective for the LORD is if we have a relationship with Him. We must learn He is not looking at what we are doing for Him, but He is closely scrutinizing us in how we are doing things for Him. The smaller the issue the closer He is scrutinizes us. Big things in God really do not matter, but ah the small things, well they are life and death to us. Something as small as a realization of our need for Him and a confession of our faith in Him to change us from who we are means all of the next world to us. We must learn the way up is down. We must be like Jesus lowly in heart and see of ourselves no reputation. My heavens just look at Christian TV (an oxymoron) the effort spent to build up a man over another man. Each working so hard to build up a reputation: as a end-time teacher, pastor, prophet, apostle, healer, you name it. Commercials are even made to promote a man to his greatness, but Jesus said the meek and humble shall inherit the earth. David said, "But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." (Psalms 37:11) That is peace now on earth not in the sweet by and by. The meek and humble know truth. Jesus said in Matthew, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." (Matthew 11:29) Wow peace and rest! People of ambition trying to build up their reputation know no peace and rest, but striving and contempt. At the end of the day they confuse love, truth, and the weightier things of God. Remember, truth without love becomes a club, but love without truth becomes a perversion. If we get this wrong we are heading for hard times and a great fall my friend. I guess when I think of the Father and His relationship with Jesus (at the end of the day) I think of the many father and son relationships I have personally seen. At the end of the day all we can share is the things we personally know and I have been blessed (term over used) with great examples in my life. Growing up in a military family we made many visits to family members. When my father would deploy somewhere in the world we would move in with my mom's mother at 57 Carpenters Ave. in Ridgeley, WV. When my father would come home we would drive over to 15 Napoleon Street in Johnstown, PA where his mother lived. Now Grandma Stahl was not Grandma Jewell. I learned quickly not to confuse them. Grandma Stahl was stern not very loving. When her husband left her with four kids she decided to raise her kids with discipline and not much love. Grandma Stahl was a tough lady. But at the end of day when we would leave to head back to Ridgeley we would load up in the car and as we waved good-by I could see a tear or two run down the face of my father and my grandmother. I thought maybe she was not as tough as I thought, but to be honest I never realized what was going on. As we (Karen and I) got older and had kids we would visit our parents. For years we would visit from one address to the next. And as we got older and as we gathered grandkids to our parents (at the end of the day) when we would leave we would load the car and stand and wave as streams of tears would run down our face. I began to understand a little bit about the end of the day. And now when our kids come home with our grandkids and they leave at the end of the day my heart and mind goes back to my father and his mother, back to all of the times we left from Karen's parents home and my parents home. Oh what a heavy heart. Now we stand at the end of the day with tears streaming down our face as our kids pull out. We wave, oh what a heavy heart. At the end of the day I kind of believe this is the way the Father kind of felt about Jesus.