If

If today were like all the rest in everything but one last thing…

If you began today as usual, arising from slumber to tackle a set of responsibilities at the office, to receive the criticism and the accolades that are regularly placed upon you—to a varying degree on any given day—if your self-evaluation at the end of your day found you essentially content with your professional performance as well as with your comportment of yourself in the interpersonal realm as you lay your head upon your pillow for your night’s rest, if…

If this were your last day on earth and tonight as you sleep the Angel of Death slipped into your room and took the hand of your soul and carried it before the Throne of the Lord of Glory, to the feet of the One True and Living God; if you found yourself standing before Jesus Who Died For Your Sins, would you want to place today at His feet?

When you consider that the Holy Gospel says of God that He is Love (see I John 4:7,8), how well would you fare before Him?

You may protest, “Oh, Mighty Father, I extolled Your virtue before the unbeliever!”
You may cry, “I kept Your law from my youth!”
You may protest, “I put righteousness above all else.”

And He will say, “Get thee from Me. I never knew you.”

For your good works can’t save you. Your righteousness can’t save you. Your condemnation of the sins of others can’t save you.

The only thing that can deliver you in that final hour when you stand before the Holy One who died to set you free from sin is your own cleansing and your willingness to lavish that forgiveness upon everyone around you.

To the degree you rely on the law, the law will judge you.
To the degree you love, you will be loved and forgiven.