But why do you criticize your brother?  Or why do you look down on your brother?  For we will all stand before the tribunal of God. For it is written:
As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.  Romans 14:10-12 HCSB

As I write this, I can think of several  people that I would like to treat with contempt.  Two people right off the top of my head have done things that have brought harm to someone close to me.  I would like to judge them, but that is not my job.  It’s also not my job to seek vengeance.  The Bible tells us that vengeance is God’s job (Romans 12:19).

Instead the Bible tells me that I am to feed my enemy if he is hungry, give him something to drink if he is thirsty and that I am to overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:20-21)

At some point every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  The scripture tells us this very clearly.  So you can live like the devil here on earth and spend eternity with him or you can make the most of your time here on earth and practice for an eternity in heaven and let God help you perfect it once you get there.  The choice is yours.  How we live while we are here on earth determines where we will spend eternity.  Think about this and really let it sink in.

We work for a certain period of time, a week, two weeks, a month, so that we can get a paycheck.  Then we do it all over again.  We do it over and over and over.  We work for the reward of having a roof over our heads, food in our mouths, clothes and if we are fortunate perhaps we have a little left for fun.

We do this because we anticipate tomorrow.  We anticipate birthdays and Christmases and occasions where we will need to spend money.

If this is the case, then why do some of us live as if there is no tomorrow?  Why do some of us live as though death is the end of it all?  The Bible clearly tells us that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess.  You can do it on earth and be ready for heaven or you can wait until you get to heaven and do it just before you are sentenced to hell.

If we want to get to heaven, then we need to get busy while we are here on earth.  We need to stop judging others.  We have no business doing God’s job.  We need to stop treating others with contempt.  We need to get busy doing what God has instructed us to do.  We need to love others.  We need to be kind to others and most importantly we need to try to win others to Christ.  We don’t have to go stand on a street corner with our Bibles and a megaphone but we need to reach out to those around us that are hurting and that have a God-sized hole in their heart.  People are dying every day because they are trying to fill the void in their lives with things like cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, sexual immorality.

We need to show people what heaven is going to look like.  We need to show them what God’s love looks  like.  We need to be a witness for God even if we never open our mouths.  We need to show people that we bow to God and that we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

As we wind this week down and head for the weekend, please take a minute to reflect on what your life looks like.  Are you showing others contempt or God’s love?  Are you setting a good example of what a Christian should be or are you looking like a hypocrite?  The world holds Christians to a higher standard.  How are you doing with that?

My former pastor used to say that singing and praising God while we were here on earth was just good practice for heaven.  But if you think about it, everything we do on earth should be good practice for when we are in heaven.  In heaven there will be no contempt, no hatred, no jealousy.  The only judgement will be the one that we receive from God, so shouldn’t it be that way here on earth also.  Imagine if everyone on earth lived as though they were already in heaven.  There would be no need for law enforcement if we all showed Christ’s love to each other.

My prayer for you today is that you have bowed and openly confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord.  I pray that you are living the kind of life that sets an example for others.  These evil people that hurt us and our friends and family will one day have to bow and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and honestly I  hope for their sake, they do it down here.  Because once they have passed on to God’s judgement it will be too late.

So, think about it.  Are you glorifying God with the things you do?  I hope so.  The rewards here are great, but up there they are beyond anything we can imagine.

Have a great day!