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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
‘So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.’
Rom_14:12
I. Our business in life, whatever it may be, has something to do with religion.—A man must not think that he puts off his religion on Monday; he has to carry it into his whole life.
II. Business-like qualities are sorely needed in the Christian life.—Care, diligence, foresight, calculation, judgment, trustworthiness, these are all qualities which are highly developed in the commercial world. When we turn to the Kingdom of Heaven, the lives of Christian people, how often we find that these very qualities are deficient or rare! They go through their life without a thought for the future, with no estimate of their true position before God, thinking perhaps that they are doing God’s work, and yet indulging all the time in their own fads and fancies. What a rude awakening it will be in the last day when they come to give account of themselves to God, and think what they have got of real abiding value remaining with them from this transient life. They will be weighed in the balance and found wanting. There is such a thing as speculation in the world of commerce. It is so also with the moral life and the spiritual life. We think of the many sects which have sprung up, of the fashionable crazes of the present time: Spiritualism, Theosophy, Christian Science, etc. What is all this but a sort of rage of speculation showing itself in a different form, trying to find some short and ready road to heaven, gratifying the love of originality by following these fads and fancies and crude beliefs? Thus it is that men come to neglect the true, well-tried principles of religion and Christian faith in which, perhaps, they were brought up.
III. As in worldly matters so in spiritual matters, there is a reward to be gained.—What is a man’s object, what he works for? The Christian life has also a special object—that is, to lay up treasures in heaven. This treasure must be laid up. It is a thing which cannot be seen, it is an invisible thing that resides in the soul; nevertheless it is a very real thing.
IV. The comparison of the spiritual life and the secular life shows that sin is a debt.—We are debtors in the sight of God. Not only is there a credit but a debit side in the bank of life. All good left undone is a debt. The grand total is swollen up by many small amounts. Why is it a debt? It is because God is our Creator, God has lent us all things. The loan of life He will ask for again. We must render Him account for advantages of being born in a certain position, for our very selves. God expects something in return. Every man shall give account of himself. The day of reckoning may be long in coming, but it will come.
Rev. F. W. Parkes.