According to 1 John 4:17, God’s love “is made complete in us so that we’ll have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world world we are like him.”
To John, then, “the day of judgment” is not a scary thought. He’s totally positive about it – and just as positive in 1 John 2:28 too, stating that “when Jesus appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.”
And rightly so, because, as John also wrote back in John 5:24, Jesus said that “whoever hears what I have to say – and believes in the one who sent me – has eternal life. He does not have to face judgment, since he’s already passed from death into life.” Judgment day has no worries for us because our final destiny has already been decided and sealed.
Why, then, is John still talking about a “day of judgment” for us? Paul answers that in 1 Corinthians 3:13, that our “work (of building on what Jesus began in us, verses 10-12) will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.” It won’t affect our final destiny but it does affect our reward (14-15) – “For,” Paul adds in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive what’s due to us for what we did in our earthly bodies, for good or bad.”
Well, that may be a great confidence builder for those who’ve done a lot of good in their lives, but not so much for those who feel they’ve lived a rather ordinary and uneventful life. It’s confusing too, because isn’t being good to get a reward encouraging selfishness? And does it mean we could be stuck for eternity with a lesser reward than others get?
But the reason John gives for us having confidence on the day of our judgment back in 1 John 4:17, is not based on our good works, or our religiousness. It’s based on “God’s love being made complete in us.” As Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, God wants us “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
That’s the path God has us on, based on him growing and maturing his love in us, and if that’s the path we’re choosing to walk on, there is a reward – both now and forever – because it’s also “The path to joy”….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 