June 22 I Saturday

Esther 6-8

Acts 6

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.”   —Hebrews 4:16

What confidence do we have as we approach the day of judgment? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:8: “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” Paul speaks with full assurance that on judgment day, he will be present with the Lord. Paul’s certainty comes from what Jesus accomplished on the cross: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus not only reconciled us to God but also clothed us with His righteousness.

Similarly, John writes, “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: in this world we are like Jesus” (1 John 4:17). John reveals that we have confidence not because of the good we have done but because we are like Christ. We have become like Jesus in this transaction: He was covered with our sin, and we in exchange are covered with His righteousness. For those who are in Christ, we will be forever in His presence and rewarded for the quality of our lives as we lived in dependence, obedience and love for Him that produces its fruit.

This is why Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ…. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19). When we are in Christ, our whole perspective changes. We realize that we no longer live for ourselves but for Him.

The reality is that some of us may have things that keep us awake at night, demanding much of our time and energy, but it will all turn into ashes one day. As Christ has reconciled us to God, we have become His ambassadors and are entrusted with the task of sharing Christ so that others may come to know and believe in Him. How embarrassed we might be for the wasted time and energy on things we did that did not come out of our wholesome love for and fear of God, which causes us to live not for ourselves, but for Him.

We can have grounds for this confidence as we approach judgment day. Confidence is the word used by Paul and John, not hopeful, which implies optimistic or wishful thinking. We can have confidence on that day because our dependence and identity are derived from trusting Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Dear God, thank You that I can have confidence to approach Your throne on judgment day because of what Jesus did. Give me the zeal to tell others to place their trust in Christ.