¹⁰ But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God.” ¹² So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

Final Judgment—that’s something most people believe in, even if only as a residual effect of the Christian culture of our Western world. At least everyone hopes there will be a final accounting for how one spends his or her life. Put another way, we hope in the end there is justice.

The world is filled with injustices, from the bully in the schoolyard to systemic oppression of people groups, from racial inequalities to class discrimination. Extermination of 6 million Jews, the slaughter of inter-tribal warfare, weapons of mass destruction, terrorist suicide bombings and threats of nuclear proliferation involving the killing of millions of innocents. A woman who must choose between remaining in an abusive relationship or living a life of financial impoverishment and social embarrassment—that is as unjust as political or corporate dominance that represses a nation’s populace.

Yes, there will be a final judgment. On the large, societal level, the Bible is replete with examples of God’s bringing judgment on the nations, even Israel. God warned His own people, the Jews, of their sinful ways. But God will bring us all accountable as individuals. It is in vogue today for people to say when things go wrong, “We need to hold people accountable.” And that usually means punishment or firing from their job. But when it comes to moral judgment, it is not our role to hold others ultimately accountable, but God’s.

This not only puts us in our place so that we do not judge people, but it also gives us assurance that the justice we seek will be fulfilled perfectly by God. This is good, because the justice we seek so often is relative and biased and harsh. Our goal in judgment is to exalt ourselves, to make ourselves look superior and righteous as compared to the next person. God’s goal is different; His purpose in judgment is to bring worship and praise to Himself. And that He will do in all of us.

The question for ourselves is not how other people are doing in living according to our self-exalting form of practical righteousness, but how are we doing in bowing before God now, genuinely praising, so that in the day of His judgment we will not be “forced” to bow our knee!

Lord, I let go of my compulsion to make others bow before me, and instead I bow before You in humbleness.