The final inspection — are we ready?
Published 12:30 pm Thursday, October 8, 2015
By The Rev. Steve Conwell
Have you ever had your automobile fail a state inspection?
During the past year you have noticed some changes, but you get used to it and accept it as normal. The wiper blades do not clean the windshield very well so you peep around them the best you can. The muffler is now louder so you turn up the radio. The exhaust fumes are not so bad if the windows are down. When the inspector fails your car you become upset with him, like it was his fault. What you may fail to realize is that the state’s law is what failed your inspection.
Our lives are like that. We live according to our values or authority. We have become accustomed to our bad language because “everybody says it.” We are comfortable with our morality, feeling it is normal. Times have changed and so have our behaviors; things we once believed wrong we now accept as right.
To us, our character is pretty good if we compare it to someone we feel is worse than us. We believe we have the right to be happy so we indulge in our passions. Then one day at the Great White Throne Judgment, our final inspection, we fail. The true reasons behind our motives, thoughts, deeds and words are revealed. When we fail our inspection we want to blame God and not ourselves. We fail to understand it was the Perfect Law that condemned us for we fall short of the glory of God. All of our breaking of God’s commandments was our choice, which makes us responsible for them and accountable for the consequences.
Because this is a Throne of Judgment there will only be justice here, and we get only what we deserve. Today, however, we may come to the Throne of Mercy for forgiveness. We all have sinned against a holy God, except the Lord Jesus who was sinless. When we receive Christ as our Savior, He pays our sin debt against a holy God and covers us with His absolute righteousness. This gift of salvation is available free to anyone who will receive it.
STEVE CONWELL is pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church. His email address is SteveConwell@outlook.com