Dear Pastor,
Is it true that you will be held accountable for your sins on judgment day? This is confusing to me because the bible tells us are sins are forgiven (in the Greek - past, present, future), they are no more. But, the bible also tells us we will give an account of our sins. Matthew 12:36-37 says: “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
–Mary Ann
Mary Ann,
About our words: Jesus teaches us that the words we speak expose the true condition of our hearts (Matt. 12:34-37). So I ask myself: Are my words filled with love, grace, compassion and encouragement, or gossip, suspicion, aspersion, negativity, or cynicism? How do I feel when the condition of my heart is revealed? What actions should I consider? Are there some words that are gone yet retrievable, through asking my neighbor for forgiveness? Could it be that while harmful words will judged, healing words will also be judged, but credited to my account, so to speak?
About our attitudes (James 2:13): “Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” James contrasted two attitudes: showing mercy, and judging without mercy. If we are merciful toward others, God can be merciful toward us. It’s that simple. It’s like when Jesus said, “Forgive and you’ll be forgiven; refuse to forgive and you won’t be forgiven.” We read passages like these and the first thing many of us do is look for ways that this can’t be true. It sounds like works. What happened to the idea that believing the right things will get us into heaven? But this is what Jesus said.
So in like fashion, James says, “If we are merciful toward others, God can be merciful toward us.” It seems to me that the best way to understand this is that if we’re critical and condemning, it’s apparent that we don’t understand mercy. People who really understand and receive mercy tend to extend mercy. Those who only understand critical judgment are self-condemned already. They should turn toward mercy because mercy triumphs over judgment!
Mercy and justice both come from God, so they are not competitors. Perhaps we could think of it this way: Where God finds the true worshipper who loves God and man, and seeks blessing and ministry for the poor, needy and oppressed, (as in the case of the Good Samaritan) there, God is able to show mercy. Where God finds the person who refuses grace and winks at injustice and turns the other way in times of need—there God issues true justice to the unjust.
Learning Mercy,
Mark