“He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.”

John’s gospel, 12:48

No surprises is what that means. The judge already gave us the book.

His book says the “weightier matters of the law” are such things as justice, mercy & faithfulness (Matthew 23:23). You can practice justice by treating others with fairness & honesty. You can be merciful in forgiving others when they treat you poorly or by being patient when they are just plain irritating. Faithfulness is simply a matter of sticking with your commitments to God as well as those to others.

What we call the ”Golden Rule” came from Jesus. Will you treat others as you would have them to treat you (Matthew’s gospel, 7:12)? Jesus said that this practice alone would fulfill all the Law & the prophets because this equates to the 2nd greatest command to love your neighbor as yourself. Wowser! The greatest command is to love God, which is what you are doing when you obey him (John 14:15, 21-24, 15:14).

Jesus said that to be complete, however, we must love our enemies as well (Matthew 5:48). Will you do your best to love those who curse you and pray for those who persecute you? That’s in the book bro. No excuses.

Alright, alright. I know and you know that the above is not enough. The bottom line is, and our only hope is, to put our faith in Jesus so he will be able to count our faith as righteousness on that day. That’s what Jesus’ apostle wrote as noted below:

“Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness…”

Romans 4:4-5