He Has You

“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17 NKJV). This judgment might start with church leaders, but the time for judgment will include us all. Get it right, Christian.

The time has come to clean the house, and it is the house of God that needs cleaning first. We have seen several pastors recently held accountable for what they have done, and God is exposing their sins in the light of His own righteousness. There is no hiding from God.

Fire is judgment because light exposes the dark. “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:20 NKJV).

We must pray for our fallen pastors, for we are no better than them. We are all merely sinners saved by grace. Though there must be consequences for what they have done, there should also be forgiveness from the church from which they have fallen.

Don’t ever ask God to give you what you deserve. “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins” (Romans 3:23-24 CEV).

We must never think that removing a church leader who has fallen hurts the church more than it would by leaving them in the position that they held. God wants His church to be a light in the darkness, and so to do that, no darkness can remain in church leadership.

Our problem in the church is not that we fail to argue the truth but that we fail to live it. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV).

Church leaders are held to a higher standard because they are leading other believers. Their sin not only hurts them but many others as well. No man or woman should be careless in taking on a leadership role in the church, knowing God will judge them more harshly.

It’s one thing to go off the rails and another to take the whole train with you. “Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1 NLT).

We must not think that the judgment of God in the church is limited to only the leaders. The Lord wants to present His church blameless, and that church includes everyone who is part of the congregation. The time has come for every believer to examine their life with Christ.

If the life of Jesus reigns in you, then it will show. “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5 NASB).

The time has come to stop playing games. Your church is not a social network but should be a divine gathering of souls committed to Christ. Check yourself at the door, you who are casual Christians, and ask yourself if you have truly given your life to God.

If you’re [really] a Christian, then the phrase “bought and paid for” is etched upon your life. “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT).

The time has come to stand before your Father in heaven and let Him show you your own true heart. You may look good on the outside, but what are you hiding within? Every sin in the dark will be exposed in the light, so consider: how will you hide then?

We wouldn’t know we were in darkness unless there was light to show us. “And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants” (John 3:19-21 NLT).

The time has come to get yourself right with Jesus. I don’t care how far you are from Him right now, but only that you turn and face Him in humility. It doesn’t matter what you have done in the past to get right with Jesus, but what will you do right now?

If you’re still walking in a sin, you’ve not yet turned from that sin. “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that he will forgive your sins. If you do, times of spiritual strength will come from the Lord, and he will send Jesus, who is the Messiah he has already chosen for you” (Acts 3:19-20 GNT).

Stop looking at the sins of others to make you feel better about your own position before God. We are not judged on a curve but on a cross where none of us can escape the desperate need for the grace that came flowing in Christ’s own blood as He hung on the Cross.

When Jesus paid for your sins with His blood, it wasn’t a down payment but a payment in full. “You know that in the past you were living in a worthless way…But you were saved from that useless life. You were bought, but not with something that ruins like gold or silver. You were bought with the precious blood of the death of Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb.” (1 Peter 1:18-19 ICB).

How you see sin reflects the degree to which Christ is living in you. Jesus loved the sinners, but He hated sin. You cannot hold onto anything evil and not become evil. Until you see sin for what it is, the devil is still playing you. If you flirt with sin, then sin will be attracted to you.

If you don’t hate evil, you’re a friend of evil. “You who love the Lord, hate evil” (Psalm 97:10 AMP).

The time has come to clean house, and it begins with your house, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Be that man or woman that God is calling you to be. “…Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2 NKJV).

Blessings to you always,

Paul Balius