“And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” – Hebrews 4:13
Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God become flesh, sees everything about you. Actions… words… thoughts. Jesus sees your worst deeds and knows the reasons why you do your best deeds. How does this make you feel? If you remembered this truth regularly, would it change how you live, particularly when nobody is looking?
It should, because we all continue to battle with temptation and sometimes, we lose that battle. Fortunately, we’re saved by God’s grace, the gift we can’t earn and don’t have to try to earn! Our sins are forgiven when we repent of them and ask forgiveness in the name of our Lord Jesus. His work on the cross opened the way for us to enter His unending rest through faith in Him. And yet, Scripture is also clear that we’ll each give an account to Him for every selfish, cruel, or nasty thought, every hurtful, deceitful, or careless word, and for every sinful action or inaction. It’s sobering to remember that Jesus, Who lived a perfect life, knows every way in which we’ve failed to follow Him.
Nobody is perfect. We all sin, except for Jesus. He understands that and graciously forgives us whenever we ask. But we must be honest that His invitation to deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily, and follow Him is a serious call to live, speak, and think like Him. Every moment of every day. We must be regularly examining ourselves compared to Jesus and praying earnestly for the Holy Spirit to continue changing us to be more like Jesus every day. It’s a lifelong journey that won’t be complete until we pass away or Jesus returns. But we must each be making that journey. Consider carefully whether you’re more holy and Christlike today than you were a year ago. #FollowJesus