Reckoning

Reckoning is one of those words we don't often use in every day speech. It means settling accounts or a person's judgement or opinion. Reckoning can be mean punishing misdeeds or sin. We understand there will be a day of reckoning when we all stand before God to give account of our lives (2 Corinthians 5:10).

I'll turn 50 next year. At the start of what is considered middle age, it seems this word is turning my perspective to deeper things when I considered how I lived and what life remains ahead.

What will I say and what will I present to Christ on that day? Will it be the souls brought into His kingdom using all the resources He provided to make it possible? Or will my life prove wasted by indifference and doing just the minimum? A life that never reckoned that all the power of God is in me to make a difference.

So often my life was marked by heightened experiences and feelings followed by sinking into a mire of depression. During these times, I questioned and argued with God when I felt disconnected and abandoned. I reckon that I failed to trust Him in the bad times not just in the good moments.

Apostle Paul urges us, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:11 KJV).

There's a time we must reckon that whatever we sinfully pursued or persisted will never bring us life but destruction. It's time to stop toying and rooting around in the ruins of places and things God had once delivered us. That challenge is true for me as well.

As we mature in Christ, our understanding of Him and what glory lies before us will grow sharper and more defined. Along the way we have to stop long enough to ask God not only to reconcile our hearts but to reckon us - settle any open accounts - in our lives that may interrupt our fellowship with Him.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8 NIV).