“So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” — Romans 14:12
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When the clock strikes 0:00 and the game is over, fans turn off their televisions or head for the stadium exits. Their day is over. But the work day is far from over for the professional athletes and coaches. Often, they will have multiple media obligations to fulfill after each game. There’s the network television interview, the local news station, and of course, the press conference, and at each stop they’re asked for their opinions and perspectives on the game they just played.
Followers of Jesus will also have to “give an account of ourselves to God” if we die before Christ returns. We will stand before God, the Righteous Judge, and explain the life we just lived. There, in that moment, we will have our best opportunity yet to glorify our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ.
We will point not to ourselves or anything that we’ve done because “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
No, we will not point to ourselves. We will point to Christ, with all of our being, and declare that God “chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Ephesians 1:4). We’ll declare that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) because of the great love with which He loved us. Christ made us new creations, and Christ calls us His special possession. And as we stand there, all of our earthly days having passed, we can declare with joy that He who began a good work in us has been faithful to His promise to carry it on to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.
Athletes often give glory to God in their postgame interviews; never is God’s glory most clearly on display than when a sinner-turned-saint, by His grace, stands in His presence and rejoices anew in all He has done.
— Kevin Mercer
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