Day 37

I remember the day, more than 30 years ago, when I had to stand before a judge to hear his judgment. At issue was an argument over whether I lived in the right district to run for a particular elective office. Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong, I still felt anxious. No one likes to hear judgment passed on them. (By the way, I won that case.) We don’t like to think about judgment. But Scripture is explicit that every person on the planet will stand before Christ to be judged. Though our salvation is dependent upon whether Christ is our Savior and Lord, our actions as individuals in life certainly factor into things eternally in a way that we don’t fully comprehend.

How does knowing this fact change the way you pray for governmental leaders and those in authority when you recognize that they, too, must stand before the judgment seat of Christ? We are not called to be accusers but intercessors. The picture of the judgment seat of Christ should drive us to our knees in passionate prayer for our nation’s leaders.