“…for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.” (1Sam.2:3b)
I don’t know about you, but scales have never made my list of favorite things, even when the numbers registered improvement. I guess it’s because they are so fickle. They can change your mood from pleasure to frustration in a week’s time, it would seem. Granted, the scale is only a gauge of my own behavior (unless there is an organic problem), but that only adds to the frustration. Still, as significant as these scales are to some of us, we should never lose sight of the most important one you and I will be weighed on: the scales of God.
In Hannah’s magnificent prayer of praise to God for the gift of a son, she acknowledges it is not our body or our mind that is weighed by God, but our actions. As important as our thought life is, it is not the things thought in the mind, but the “things done in [the] body” that we will give an account of to God (2Cor.5:10). To the extent that our thoughts precede our actions (a great extent, by the way), they are part of our accountable actions.
This works both ways. Good intentions can fade away from neglect; and wicked plans can have their legs cut out from under them by sincere repentance. In both cases, it is the resulting action (or inaction) that is added to God’s scale.
Of course, the whole idea of God having, much less utilizing, any kind of scale to measure our actions is abhorrent to many people. Natural man will go to any length to try to ignore his accountability to God, even inventing cults and isms that allow him to believe he is the master of his own fate. But, as I have pointed out in the past, Almighty God is someone “with whom we have to do” (Heb.4:13). He cannot be evaded. For all our blustering and pontificating, one day you and I will stand before Him and give an account.
As far as eligibility for Heaven is concerned, the balance will always be tipped against us. The best person who ever walked this earth (outside of Jesus Christ) will hear the same words King Belshazzar heard in Daniel 5:27: “Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting.” The only hope we have of tipping the scales of Divine justice in our favor is the intervention of Christ on our behalf. When He is added to the equation, by repentance of sin and faith in His death, burial, and resurrection, then—and only then—will the odds be stacked in our favor.
Those of us who have the assurance that our sin debt has been paid and we are as sure of Heaven and though we were already there, should, nevertheless, be mindful that sins that will never impose the wrath of God on us (1Thess.5:9), can still bring His displeasure and discipline. God never ignores sin. And sin always kills something. It may not be our souls, thanks to Calvary, but it can kill a lot of other things, not the least of which is our joy and sweet fellowship with the Father.
The next time you step on a scale, remember it’s not the most important one in your life. There is another one that is weighing your actions. And say, what was your latest weigh-in?
I don’t know about you, but scales have never made my list of favorite things, even when the numbers registered improvement. I guess it’s because they are so fickle. They can change your mood from pleasure to frustration in a week’s time, it would seem. Granted, the scale is only a gauge of my own behavior (unless there is an organic problem), but that only adds to the frustration. Still, as significant as these scales are to some of us, we should never lose sight of the most important one you and I will be weighed on: the scales of God.
In Hannah’s magnificent prayer of praise to God for the gift of a son, she acknowledges it is not our body or our mind that is weighed by God, but our actions. As important as our thought life is, it is not the things thought in the mind, but the “things done in [the] body” that we will give an account of to God (2Cor.5:10). To the extent that our thoughts precede our actions (a great extent, by the way), they are part of our accountable actions.
This works both ways. Good intentions can fade away from neglect; and wicked plans can have their legs cut out from under them by sincere repentance. In both cases, it is the resulting action (or inaction) that is added to God’s scale.
Of course, the whole idea of God having, much less utilizing, any kind of scale to measure our actions is abhorrent to many people. Natural man will go to any length to try to ignore his accountability to God, even inventing cults and isms that allow him to believe he is the master of his own fate. But, as I have pointed out in the past, Almighty God is someone “with whom we have to do” (Heb.4:13). He cannot be evaded. For all our blustering and pontificating, one day you and I will stand before Him and give an account.
As far as eligibility for Heaven is concerned, the balance will always be tipped against us. The best person who ever walked this earth (outside of Jesus Christ) will hear the same words King Belshazzar heard in Daniel 5:27: “Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting.” The only hope we have of tipping the scales of Divine justice in our favor is the intervention of Christ on our behalf. When He is added to the equation, by repentance of sin and faith in His death, burial, and resurrection, then—and only then—will the odds be stacked in our favor.
Those of us who have the assurance that our sin debt has been paid and we are as sure of Heaven and though we were already there, should, nevertheless, be mindful that sins that will never impose the wrath of God on us (1Thess.5:9), can still bring His displeasure and discipline. God never ignores sin. And sin always kills something. It may not be our souls, thanks to Calvary, but it can kill a lot of other things, not the least of which is our joy and sweet fellowship with the Father.
The next time you step on a scale, remember it’s not the most important one in your life. There is another one that is weighing your actions. And say, what was your latest weigh-in?
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