Live or Die

DEVOTION
ROMANS
LIVE OR DIE
Rom 14:7-12
7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11 It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
NIV
It would seem every person upon the face of the earth from the beginning to the end will bow their knee before God. Now that is about enough to shake up anyone, yet there are people who really don’t care. Those who are dead and those who are alive will both stand before God. Now I cannot see this dead and alive meaning anything but those who are dead in their sin, and those who are alive in Christ. That includes everyone for sure. I can certainly be glad I am alive in Christ. I am truly happy I have already bowed my knee before my Lord. But I still stand in awe; I still have a healthy fear of Him. To think I will have to stand before God and give an account of my own self is a sobering thought. What will I account for? Is He going to review my entire life? Is there some huge screen television I will have to watch and account for all my activities, all my sin? I know this is not the case, for which I am extremely relieved. The giving of an account will consist of whether a person has or has not accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. I know this because when God forgives me of my sin, He will remember it no more. Therefore I will not be held accountable for it when I stand before Him, because of Christ. Praise God! I will Live, I will have life and life more abundantly, life eternal. I will be ushered into the everlasting Paradise of God because He lives, I will live also. Not so for some others who have not chosen to live but rather have decided to die. This makes me sad to think someone would knowingly make a choice to have to stand before Him and tell Him they have elected not to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. How can a person do that? Why can’t I help them understand? I know it is the task of the Holy Spirit, to convict people of their sin, but I too have been commanded to go and tell. Why do they not listen? Why chose to die, when you can live?