Our text for today is 2 Corinthians 5:10
“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.”
I don’t like to think of negative things. In fact, Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about the good things. So let me ask you, why does the text for today seem like a negative one? That great day for us will be when we finally get to meet Jesus. Wow! What a happy day that will be.
The prospect of meeting Jesus ought to bring us joy. The prospect of meeting Jesus ought to help us live righteously now.
I read the story of a little boy who was going to bed for the night. As he kneeled beside his bed he prayed, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake…” At this point he stopped his prayer and ran out of the room. In a little while he came back. As his father was watching him, the father asked, “Where did you go?”
The little boy said, “I got to thinking about ‘if I should die before I wake’ and remembered that I turned all of my sister’s toys upside down. I thought if I should die before I wake, I wouldn’t want her to see them that way, so I went and fixed them.”
This little story ought to remind us that we might not be here tomorrow. If I should die before I wake, what would I want to do before that time? If you should die before you wake, what might you want to do before that time?
Whatever it is, do it!
Lonnie Davis