3 Reasons why Judgement Day is a Good Thing
In both the Church world and the unchurched world "Judgment" can be a pretty emotionally charged word. It seems the only verse that the unsaved have memorized is the out-of-context presentation of Matthew 7:1 and likewise those in the church house seem to confront any reference to judgment as being "condemning" and thus not good for their spirits. To avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater here are 3 reasons why the Day of Judgment is actually a good thing:
1) Perception is reality in all cases where people have power. You can have good intentions and even do good things yet be maligned and not justly rewarded on this earth because people can't rightly see what you have done. Thus how people think will define how you will be treated and consequently how you will be compensated in this age. In a similar way, those who don't anticipate the Final Judgment only do good to the degree that they feel it will benefit them in this life -- much of which is based on whatever public sentiment states about a certain issue. Yet, those who are aware of the Great White Throne, live with simple definitions of right and wrong and will attempt to walk according to those. Public sentiment in the German 1930's may have resulted in a cultural thrust to undervalue the life of a Jew, but a man who feared the One who judges all men impartially would have resisted that thrust even at the expense of retribution from National Socialist German Workers Party.
At the Judgment Seat of Christ all hidden things will be revealed for what they really were. On that day, reality will be reality and man's perception will be shown for what it truly is -- incomplete and short-sited. All smear campaigns and false labels will be exposed and all half-truths will be shown for the malignant and manipulative views that they really are.
While even just the thought of it is a beautiful thing in our smoke-screen, PR crazed, media-ruled world; it is also a fearful thing for all people. What it tells us is that we need to train ourselves to look deeper than what is served up to us via all the noise that comes from the various websites, radio shows and TV news channels. We need to truly avoid the prejudice that comes from simply reading an article or watching a show about something we have no contact with and understand that even the most perceivably unbiased reporter has a hidden perspective he is (albeit in unconsciously) looking to communicate and even the most well-informed researcher does not see all the facts.
2) Your real value will be vindicated before the True Judge. Value is an interesting philosophical concept to discuss. Something or someone is only really as valuable as the lengths gone to defend and protect them. Vindication and its partner in arms Vengeance are the lengths that someone else went to declare that the person who was violated is in fact worth a great deal. An easy example of this is the way an older brother will not allow a school yard bully to pick on his younger sister. Should he find out that his sister has been bullied in any way, if she means something to him, he will go to the bully and re-instill her value by punishing the perpetrator for what he did to her.
A big instance of the Great White Throne is where God will allot to all violators of humanity the punishment that is right to be imposed on them to correctly re-instill the value of all those they have violated. Judgment really isn't about the criminal, it is much more about the victim. And while as believers, we are no longer to receive punishment for our sins, the fact that a price had to be paid further instills that someone can't just treat me (or you) like dirt and God not care.
Our worth to God is much more than mere rhetoric, it is real, and when people don't hold us to that standard, we have a Father who demands payment for the way we were violated.
3) True Fairness is experienced at the Judgment Seat of Christ. The world isn't fair. Some people are born into rich families and are given huge inheritances and opportunities that most of the world will never be given. Some are given physical gifts that others don't have. Others intellectual abilities or social connections that many weren't blessed with. This may come as a shocker, but even Jesus stated that the world isn't fair. Jesus told His disciples in the Parable of Talents, a story where a ruler of a city gave different men different amounts of money based on their ability. Yet, when the ruler came back he looked at what the men had done with the different amounts they had been given and he placed their standing in his kingdom not based off of their total gross amount but rather what they had done with what they were given.
The Judgment Seat is the Great Equalizer of people. We see that though in this life some people may be given more than others, on the Day of Judgment God will unbiasedly look at what we all did with what we were given and then real fairness will have its day. On that day a rich man may be taking orders from a poor man and a former ruler of a nation listening to the instruction of a peasant. On that day, what is truly the merit of a person will be rightly seen, weighed and measured and it won't have anything to do with who their parents were, what political party they joined or what car they drove. On that day, the only thing that will be seen is the true honest intention of the heart.
So the Day of Judgment. Generally a fearful thing, but to those of use who have given ourselves to honesty and transparency this is actually a beautiful day. As this will be the day, when the spin doctors, the entitled, the malignant and all who seek to distort the view of others for the sake of gaining an advantage will be seen for what they really are. While the upright and the pure in heart will also be seen. And all the deeds that men have done will be brought out for all to see.
1) Perception is reality in all cases where people have power. You can have good intentions and even do good things yet be maligned and not justly rewarded on this earth because people can't rightly see what you have done. Thus how people think will define how you will be treated and consequently how you will be compensated in this age. In a similar way, those who don't anticipate the Final Judgment only do good to the degree that they feel it will benefit them in this life -- much of which is based on whatever public sentiment states about a certain issue. Yet, those who are aware of the Great White Throne, live with simple definitions of right and wrong and will attempt to walk according to those. Public sentiment in the German 1930's may have resulted in a cultural thrust to undervalue the life of a Jew, but a man who feared the One who judges all men impartially would have resisted that thrust even at the expense of retribution from National Socialist German Workers Party.
At the Judgment Seat of Christ all hidden things will be revealed for what they really were. On that day, reality will be reality and man's perception will be shown for what it truly is -- incomplete and short-sited. All smear campaigns and false labels will be exposed and all half-truths will be shown for the malignant and manipulative views that they really are.
While even just the thought of it is a beautiful thing in our smoke-screen, PR crazed, media-ruled world; it is also a fearful thing for all people. What it tells us is that we need to train ourselves to look deeper than what is served up to us via all the noise that comes from the various websites, radio shows and TV news channels. We need to truly avoid the prejudice that comes from simply reading an article or watching a show about something we have no contact with and understand that even the most perceivably unbiased reporter has a hidden perspective he is (albeit in unconsciously) looking to communicate and even the most well-informed researcher does not see all the facts.
2) Your real value will be vindicated before the True Judge. Value is an interesting philosophical concept to discuss. Something or someone is only really as valuable as the lengths gone to defend and protect them. Vindication and its partner in arms Vengeance are the lengths that someone else went to declare that the person who was violated is in fact worth a great deal. An easy example of this is the way an older brother will not allow a school yard bully to pick on his younger sister. Should he find out that his sister has been bullied in any way, if she means something to him, he will go to the bully and re-instill her value by punishing the perpetrator for what he did to her.
A big instance of the Great White Throne is where God will allot to all violators of humanity the punishment that is right to be imposed on them to correctly re-instill the value of all those they have violated. Judgment really isn't about the criminal, it is much more about the victim. And while as believers, we are no longer to receive punishment for our sins, the fact that a price had to be paid further instills that someone can't just treat me (or you) like dirt and God not care.
Our worth to God is much more than mere rhetoric, it is real, and when people don't hold us to that standard, we have a Father who demands payment for the way we were violated.
3) True Fairness is experienced at the Judgment Seat of Christ. The world isn't fair. Some people are born into rich families and are given huge inheritances and opportunities that most of the world will never be given. Some are given physical gifts that others don't have. Others intellectual abilities or social connections that many weren't blessed with. This may come as a shocker, but even Jesus stated that the world isn't fair. Jesus told His disciples in the Parable of Talents, a story where a ruler of a city gave different men different amounts of money based on their ability. Yet, when the ruler came back he looked at what the men had done with the different amounts they had been given and he placed their standing in his kingdom not based off of their total gross amount but rather what they had done with what they were given.
The Judgment Seat is the Great Equalizer of people. We see that though in this life some people may be given more than others, on the Day of Judgment God will unbiasedly look at what we all did with what we were given and then real fairness will have its day. On that day a rich man may be taking orders from a poor man and a former ruler of a nation listening to the instruction of a peasant. On that day, what is truly the merit of a person will be rightly seen, weighed and measured and it won't have anything to do with who their parents were, what political party they joined or what car they drove. On that day, the only thing that will be seen is the true honest intention of the heart.
So the Day of Judgment. Generally a fearful thing, but to those of use who have given ourselves to honesty and transparency this is actually a beautiful day. As this will be the day, when the spin doctors, the entitled, the malignant and all who seek to distort the view of others for the sake of gaining an advantage will be seen for what they really are. While the upright and the pure in heart will also be seen. And all the deeds that men have done will be brought out for all to see.
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