1 Peter 1:17 describes God as the Father “who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds.” That’s a present tense; God is judging you and me at all times. It’s not just something that will happen at the important final exam, the last judgment. You and I are always being judged.
Tomorrow our seminarians will hear a sermon about grace, about the pure gift from God of salvation apart from our works. We know this grace through the faith His Spirit works in us, but can this comforting teaching be mishandled? What if salvation by grace through faith is so drummed into us that we forget God is always watching, always judging? Martin Luther and the reformers were accused of undermining morality and Christian living by their emphasis upon grace through faith. It is an understandable criticism. “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1).
You are being watched now, but not by an impersonal God but by God who has revealed Himself to us as Father, our Father because He is the Father of our brother and Lord, Jesus. After Peter said the Father judges impartially, he gives this confidence: “You were ransomed…with the precious blood of Christ” (1:18). Is the Father seeing you in His Son? Is Jesus’ death and life who you are? Spirit of God, “teach us to know our God aright and call Him Father with delight!” (Lutheran Service Book, 497, 2)
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