MATTHEW 25:20-23: And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

Think about that day of all days. We get a glimpse of it from the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon – The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). And also, from the Apostle Paul – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil(2 Corinthians 5:10). It is our personal day of judgment before the Lord Jesus. Now I know Christians who do not hold to a personal judgment of believers. This is a difficult position to justify. From the two references shared from the Old Testament, book of Ecclesiastes, and New Testament book of 2 Corinthians; judgment of every human being is certain. Even in the Olivet Discourse our Lord Jesus preached, the theme of personal judgment of all people occurs (Matthew 25:31-36). And the closing out of our Bibles, we again encounter the judgment of human beings – Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done (Revelation 20:11-13). But here is a glorious and liberating truth for Christians. We will not be judged for our sins, yes, our works and the stewardship of our lives will go through the piercing judgment from our Lord, but never our sins. That judgment occurred once and forever on our Lord Jesus. He took the punishment due us upon Himself so we would never be judged for them. However, a personal judgment of how we lived and managed life is a certainty for all of us. And because that is true, how should we thus live? The answer is in today’s scripture

Live to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant” from our Lord Jesus. They will be the second best thing ever to grace the ears of a human being. The first is “Your sins are forgiven”. As we go through many trials, many sorrows, many calls in this life to deny ourselves for Christ and others, keep our hearts and minds on that day of Jesus saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Live this way. Daily. Live this way. Minute-by-minute. If we do, when that day of all days comes, we will hear those words from Jesus making every tear shed, every temptation defeated, and every season of suffering worth it.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to live with a single purpose to hear ‘Well done’ from Your Son.”
QUOTE: “To stand before Jesus and hear ‘Well done’ is the sweetest word to ever hear.”