Jury Duty

Jury Duty. My beautiful bride had her first day of jury duty today and it could last all week. That wonderful privilege of sitting in a courtroom all day hearing both sides of an argument in regards to either a criminal or civil case, in which you are responsible to weed out the lies and decide on the facts of the case. I have always found it interesting that both sides have very different “facts” of the case, yet both parties have sworn that they will “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. At the end of the trial, someone has been lying the entire time. One of my favorite black and white movies of all time is Twelve Angry Men.

As my wife has to sit there this week listening to the testimony of several witnesses and perhaps the defendant themselves, she will have to piece together the statements of all the individuals involved to try and figure out exactly what the truth is. There will be false statements that won’t add up with the rest of the stories and those will have to be thrown out in making her decision. She will need to take into account so many little details to come to her final decision whether someone is innocent or guilty.

When we stand in judgement before Christ, as either believers or unbelievers, there will be no jury listening to our testimony. There will be no opportunity for us to try to persuade others of our guilt or innocence. We will stand alone and give an account for our lives. “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” - Romans 14:12. We will not be able to hire a lawyer to plead our case, we will stand on our own accord to give an account only of ourselves.

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." - Matthew 12:36-37. Believers will stand before Christ to give an account for what they did with their lives as Christians, not for whether they have accepted Christ or not. Unbelievers will stand before God and give an account for all of their works and will be asked what they have done with Christ. Unbelievers will find their works are not enough to allow them access into the presence of God’s eternity and they will be cast out into Satan’s pit for the rest of eternity.

“For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” - John 5:22-24. What will your judgement day look like?

Have a great day and God bless.