“So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12

Accounts

As the Christmas season closes out, the credit card bills come in. Am I in the red, or in the black? I weigh the pluses and minuses I’ve accumulated over the season, and see if I am lacking.

Account balances. We can easily check how much is in the bank; it is harder to know our life’s “account balance” in the eyes of others. Are we in the red or in the black when it comes to how others see us? Are their thoughts of us positive or negative?

Before you quickly answer, “I don’t care what people think about me,” most of us would truthfully say our testimony is important to us. We care about living a life that is above reproach. We hope to live in a way that glorifies our Father. We want to be image-bearers of Jesus on this earth. We endeavor to “show we are Christians by our love.”

We read God’s Word and live according to our understanding of it. We pray to be filled with the Spirit as we relate to others. We would be ashamed of ourselves if we were to misrepresent the love of God to someone. These, and so many others, are all biblical principles for living out our faith before man, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

But sometimes we care so much what others think about us, their opinion steals our joy. We scrutinize voice inflections to see what they “really” meant when they said those words. We’re sleepless when someone misinterprets what we say. We strive to make peace with everyone, though we all know people who seem unable to be at peace. Some people are fault-finders, or touchy, or blaming others for their current misery. Their reactions hurt us. We DO care what others think about us.

In my life dwell a few people with contentious spirits. It really doesn’t matter what I say or do, how pure my motivation, how helpful my words and actions were intended to be—some malicious intent will be attributed to me. “They reward me evil for good, to the sorrow of my soul” (Psalm 35:12).

These words from Thomas a’ Kempis, a Christian who lived long ago, instruct me: “Let not thy peace depend on the tongues of men, for whether they judge well or ill, thou art not on that account other than thyself.” My peace must not be allowed to depend upon man’s accounting of me. A.W. Tozer puts it another way: my standing before God does not depend upon my standing before men. What a comfort, to know that a slanderer cannot influence God’s attitude toward me.

Father, how we bow under the opinions others hold of us! We want to please You foremost; may Your accounting of us be the one that matters most to us. Amen.