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*This is a follow-up post to my article Did Jesus Really Say We Shouldn’t Judge?

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“Only God can judge me.” It’s a famous Tupac song. Some people think it’s a cool tattoo. It’s pop culture theology. But that phrase is way more loaded than we realize it is.

Only God Can Judge Me?

Let’s address a few things about the phrase “only God can judge me.”

(1) Is it true that only God can judge you? Kind of. Only God can judge you in the ultimate and eternal sense.  Only God can pass final judgment on your life as to what your standing with Him is and where and how you will spend eternity. God is the one who will have the final say about your life.

But to recap the first post in this conversation, God’s unique ability to pass final judgment on your life doesn’t mean there is never room for you or anyone else to make judgments (evaluations) in the sense of forming opinions about your beliefs and actions according to the Bible’s standards. (More on that here)

(2)The fact that God can and will make a final judgment of your life one day should instill a bit of healthy fear (or reverence, awe, respect) of God in you, not make you comfortable believing and doing whatever you want. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

Why? Because where you spend eternity and what eternal reward you get is determined by God’s judgment (or evaluation) of your life. God is loving and merciful and at the same time God is a truthful, righteous judge.

The Bible speaks repeatedly to the fact that at the return of Jesus, He will evaluate each of us fairly and give to each one of us whatever is due. (2 Corinthians 5:9-10) The Bible speaks of not only our public, external actions but our secret, private actions and motivations of our heart as well all being laid bare before God as He evaluates our lives. (Luke 12:2-3) God is the one to whom we will each give an account and He sees everything. (Hebrews 4:13)

For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. (2 Corinthians 5:10) 

 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable. (Hebrews 4:13)

That means if you say “God knows my heart” or “only God can judge me” but never trust Him for salvation or live your life in rejection of Him and His ways, He will see that your heart and life are not truthfully toward Him and your eternal destiny is affected by that.

Okay, this is getting intense so let’s take a breath.

You don’t need to be afraid of God. God doesn’t want us to be fearful or standoff-ish with Him. God is powerful and holy, but He is also kind and relational, and His desire is for every person to have a close personal relationship with Him. He loves every person He created and actually enjoys relationship with His people! But each of us does need to understand the reality that our loving God also sees our lives and we will give an account for our lives to Him one day.

There are two aspects to God evaluating our lives.

Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God … Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. (Romans 14:10-12)

Where You Spend Eternity

Firstly, for every person whether or not we spend eternity with Jesus or separated from Him is determined by whether we have personally put our faith in Jesus for salvation from our sins, turning away from sin and living as His follower instead. (Acts 17:30-31 // 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)

Because of God’s kindness toward us, the invitation is open for every person to receive Jesus’ free gift of salvation and to find forgiveness, personal relationship with Him and eternal life. And if you have not yet made that decision and received that gift, that invitation includes you.  Nothing you have done or experienced, or any feeling you have means that Jesus could never save you or want you. The reality is that God sent Jesus to die and rise again to save you because He loves you and wants you to be a part of His family. He wants you to be His child. He wants you to be His friend.

The thought of making a way for you to be forgiven of your sin and reconciled in relationship to God actually gives Him great pleasure. If you don’t believe me, read these: Ephesians 1:4-5, 1 Timothy 2:3-4, and Romans 5:6-11. Ultimately, God leaves the decision whether to follow Him or not up to our choice, but His desire is that every person would be saved and come to know Him. (more on what it means to be a Christian here)

Your Role In Christ’s Kingdom

Secondly, for those who do become followers of Jesus, we will be evaluated when Jesus returns to determine what our eternal reward will be in His Kingdom based on our faithfulness to God during our lives on this earth. (Matthew 25:14-30 // 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 // Revelation 20)

Short version: Jesus has promised to come back to earth one day.  When He does He will establish an earthly Kingdom filled with God’s righteousness. He will reign over the entire earth as King for a thousand years before the final destruction of Satan and before God the Father’s throne descends from Heaven to earth to live with His people forever. The Bible says that Christians will reign with Jesus during those thousand years. (John 14:3 // 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 // 2 Peter 3:13 // Revelation 2:26-28; Revelation 20-22 // 1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

When Jesus returns He will evaluate the way we have lived our lives for Him on this earth and determine our role and responsibility in His coming, earthly Kingdom. I realize it sounds like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie or something like that, but I promise it’s in the Bible. 🙂 (For real though, read the verse references I gave you so you know I’m not crazy.  And the biblical authors’ descriptions of all this are way more poetic than mine anyway. 😉 )

In Matthew 25, where Jesus gives three illustrations about His return, He gives us a picture in verses 14-30 of a master who goes away on a trip and returns to evaluate how His servants managed what he entrusted to them.  The servants’ faithfulness in managing the resource entrusted to them in their master’s absence determined the level of responsibility they were entrusted with at the master’s return.  That story is a picture of Jesus (the master in the story) and us (the servants in the story).

The point? If you’re a Christian, the way you live your life on this earth matters.  As followers of Jesus, we are each participants with Him in His work in this world.  That’s why He invites us to pray and see Him intervene in circumstances. Why He calls us to share the message of salvation with people and help believers grow by teaching them how to follow Jesus.  Why He calls us to serve and meet the needs in the lives of those around us. When Jesus comes back we will still be participants with Him in His work. The Bible doesn’t give a ton of detail about the specifics of what our roles will look like, but it is clear that as His people we have a role to play in the function of His Kingdom when He returns to earth.

Living With Reward In Mind

So how does a Christian live with eternal reward and responsibility in mind?  Live your life according to the word of God. Let the truths and instructions for life in God’s Word be the foundation and fuel of your life. Some Bible verses even directly mention reward related to certain life choices when it comes to our work, forgiving others, generosity and hospitality, pursuing God in the spiritual disciplines, our response to persecution etc. (Colossians 3:23-4:1 // Luke 6:27-36 //Matthew 6:1-4 // Luke 14:12-14 // Matthew 6:5-18 // Matthew 5:10-12)

 “Anyone who listens to My teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 

But anyone who hears My teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

In the Bible, we find commands to turn from what is sinful and discover how to live in a way that is righteous and pleases God. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) We find calls to use the gifts and resources God has entrusted to us in a way that honors Him, helps others and builds His Kingdom. We find calls to grow in knowledge and relationship with Jesus and to love Him with all our heart, mind soul and strength.  We find commands to love and care for others. God looks at how we lived according to His ways revealed in His Word when He evaluates our lives.

It’s not about having the same set of life circumstances as another person, or about doing something “crazy for God,” or having big accomplishments and notoriety or money or title.  It’s simply about being obedient and faithful to God with the general principles He’s given you in His Word and with the specifics of the gifts, life situations, relationships and resources etc. that He entrusts to you to manage throughout your life as His Spirit leads. (Galatians 5:25)

Again, things got intense. Let’s take a breather.

You don’t have to perform for God.  You don’t have to slave away, trying to earn His approval. He’s not sitting on His throne in Heaven, arms folded, with an attitude saying, “impress me or else.” That’s not God’s heart toward you and that’s not how eternal reward works.

Think of evaluation and reward this way. One, how cool is it that part of Jesus’ plan for the world is that He wants His people to reign in His Kingdom with Him and you and I have a role to play in that? Two, I’ve heard it said like this: eternal rewards are a way for God to express how He feels about the way that we loved Him and lived for Him in this life. Isn’t it amazing that God would want to reward us and entrust us with responsibility in eternity and that the way we live for Him means something to Him?!

For sure, that doesn’t sound like trying to impress a harsh taskmaster.  That sounds like having relationship and partnership with the God who created you and loves you more than you can imagine.

Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church preached a great message about this topic of eternal reward that I LOVED! It teases the subject out a bit more. I strongly encourage you to give it a watch.

Before we wrap, let’s be clear on something. When we talk about God evaluating the way you lived your life and entrusting role and responsibility based on that, we are not saying that even as a Christian God will hold your sins against you in eternity.

I’ve heard some teachings on this subject where people have implied that if you sin and repent of it (or, confess it to God and work with Him to turn from it), and Jesus forgives you in this life as He promises to do when we repent (1 John 1:9), that that sin still has impact when God evaluates you for eternal reward.  I don’t see how that belief fits in with the teaching of Scripture that Jesus washes away our sins and no longer counts them against us when we come to Him repentantly, asking for forgiveness.  (Acts 3:19 // 2 Corinthians 5:17-21) I don’t see how that belief fits in with the gospel.

Now, if a follower of Jesus is intentionally and persistently careless or casual in obedience to God in some area(s) of life, I could see how that would impact what level of reward/responsibility God would entrust you with in eternity. The Bible does speak of the concept of loss or not being entrusted with as much responsibility as one could have been when it comes to Jesus evaluating and rewarding our lives. (1 Corinthians 3:10-15 // Matthew 25:24-29)

But to say that a believer who is sincerely seeking to obey God as He helps them but who may not have fully overcome an area of sin or compromise yet, or that a believer who sinned and repented and received the forgiveness of God will still have that sin count against them in Christ’s judgment of their life isn’t something I find scriptural grounds to believe.

Whether you are a Christian at the moment or not, all this stuff about what God’s judgment of our lives really means might have more implications than you may have thought about before. I hope I stirred you up to dive into what the Bible has to say about it. It’s fascinating stuff and it matters.

***More resources from other Bible teachers that talk about the judgment seat of Christ here, here, here and here.

Let’s Talk: What have you learned about the meaning of God’s judgment of our lives from this post? What did you know already and what was new information for you? Discuss this post in the comments below.

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