Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping. It's the only word in the english language I have seen that has three letters repeated twice in a row. But that's not why I have it as a title ...

Bookkeeping. It's what we do to manage our finances and keep everything legal and within the laws and guidelines that are proscribed for us as Canadians. It is also, I have been challenged to believe, something we do psychologically/mentally to provide a basis for our own worth and value as human beings. We bookkeep. That is, we keep record of certain things in our lives, and the lives of others, to make it easier for us to provide a foundation by which we judge what is valuable ... or not. Or WHO is valuable ... or not as valuable. This thought was a challenge by my good friend Pat Wiens one Sunday evening.

So it got me thinking. Do I do my spiritual and mental bookkeeping for myself or do I let God provide for me the basis by which I value myself and others. Let me go into a little more detail on what this term 'bookkeeping' means. It means I am prone to keep a record of things I have done or not done and I log them into my person to make myself either feel better or worse. So by doing good things for others, I log them as things that make me a better person, particularly in God's eyes (since I profess to love and serve Him). And alternatively, when I do things that harm others, I log them as things that ultimately make me less of a better person. But we are challenged that we ought not to view ourselves this way at all! That God does not keep books on our rights and wrongs. But doesn't He??

So I looked up some passages ... "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will rewad everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free." Eph. 6:7,8 "... great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve." Jeremiah 32:19 "For the Son of Man [Jesus] is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done." Matthew 16:27 "The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour." 1 Corinthians 3:8 "The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. ... " 1 Samuel 26:23a "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. ... If anyone's name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12 - 15 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." John 5:28,29 A good many of these quotes mention the giving of a reward according to what has been done. A reward is not something you consider getting for doing something evil or wrong or bad. It is associated for that which you do that is good and right.

It seems to me, from what I read here in the bible in many places, that there is a record and 'bookkeeping', if you will, of things done by us. It is also mentioned that our words are not forgotten, especially the careless ones: "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:36,37

And then I find this also in the bible: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered , it keeps no record of wrongs. ... " 1 Corinthians 13:4,5 And if it is true that God is the embodiment of true and pure love: " ... God is love. ... " 1 John 4:16 Then if God is love and if love truly is as Paul has described it, it would not be God's character to keep any record of wrongdoing. Therefore it would seem to me to support the description of God's character to be patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish. So then what is this record of what we have done? What is it that we have done or not done that will be judged and will either acquit us or condemn us? To answer this I will point to the words of Jesus in the book of Matthew again: "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:40

Is it maybe not so much the deeds we think that matter, but rather the heart that overflows with that which God has already put in it: overwhelming love and faith in a Creator and Friend who, by His death and resurrection, has made a way to live forever free. For our salvation is not dependant on our deeds. Nor is our complete acceptance by God dependant on what we do. Our deeds are the evidence of who we already are and who we are becoming.