SUNDAY August 30, 2026
God Judges Without Partiality
And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear...
1 Peter 1:17
Peter gave fair warning to Christians. There would come a time when they would be judged. Therefore, it was beneficial to examine their conduct of behavior. God will judge without partiality and according to each one's work. He reasoned that we should live on this earth having a fear of God. To fear God means “to stand in awe of who He is” and “to reverence Him.”
Understand, we shall not be judged for our sin, as that was taken care of when Jesus died on the Cross, but for what we have done during our stay on this earth. What have you done in regard to God’s Kingdom? How have you served the Lord all these years? How have you exercised your spiritual gifts? What were your motives for going to church, reading the Bible, praying, witnessing, tithing, or helping people?
According to the Apostle Paul, in heaven, believers will stand before the Bema Seat of Christ to be judged (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). Everything we have done for Him will be tested by fire. Our works will be tested whether they are gold, silver, wood, hay or stubble. All we have done for the Lord will burn in the fire, and whatever is leftover will be our reward.
There will be many disappointments, because when everything a believer has done on this earth is placed in the fire, and if everything burns up, there will be no reward. Everything they did for the Lord perished. Why? Because they had wrong motives. Maybe they did their good deeds to be seen by others, but they did not do it for Jesus––for the glory of God. Yet they will be saved as by the fire, because salvation is a free gift of God.
Again, it is important that we live our lives with fear in the presence of God––in reverence for His holiness––because one day, we will stand before God in the righteousness of Christ, to be judged.
You stand before God as if you were Christ, because Christ stood before God as if He were you.
~C.H. Spurgeon~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!
