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For it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
1 Peter 4:17, LSB
An uncomfortable reality is that all humanity will face judgment. This includes the Church. As Christians who have been given the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our hearts are to be set on ensuring that we are faithful in our proclamation of Christ. The greatest judgment will come upon those who fail to keep the Word or fully deny the Word and teach things contrary to it. We will face the harshest judgment mainly because we will fully know what it is that has been lost. The invisible Church will be visible to us all at the time of judgment and there will be those who thought themselves to be of the Church of Christ will be found not to be. This is what Peter and the Apostles warned the Church in their writings about so that we would be faithful and seek to center our living in Christ and not in the world. As we know, “We are in this world, but not of it.” We are meant to be sojourners in our lives, faithful in our service to Christ, and good citizens within our communities. The grace of God falls upon His chosen, but we are called to be careful not to reject our God and pursue the false gods that surround us. Let us first obey the gospel in all aspects of our lives and shine Christ’s light in the community.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.