Living God’s Way: Your Father, your Judge

Carlton McPeak

Guest Columnist

After completing his comments about being obedient children, Peter notes that Christians address God as their Father, but should also address Him as Judge. While we love to think about God as our Father, and He is, He will also be our Judge (1 Peter 1:17).

Many New Testament passages speak about God being our Father. It is very comforting to think about Him protecting and providing for us. His love for us is beyond description. He is concerned about all aspects of our lives, especially those that bring about troubles and anxiety. 

Peter gave some information that describes God as a judge. He says God will be impartial when He is judging us. God will be fair. He will not be biased. He will be able to make His judgments based upon objectivity. He will not be influenced by people who want to do us harm. 

One fascinating characteristic about God being the judge is that He will not need any “eyewitnesses” to testify before Him in His courtroom. Because God is able to be everywhere, all the time, He is aware of our actions as we do them and our thoughts as we have them. 

Peter pointed out that God will not only be impartial, but He will judge us “according to each one’s work.” We will face God individually. God’s judgment will not be a collective judgment. We will not be judged based upon the crowd with whom we associated. God will not judge us based upon our church membership. 

Because each one of us will be judged based upon our own “work,” God will not judge us based upon our heritage. While our parents may have been faithful Christians, their work will not be the basis for God judging us. Likewise, if our parents were not obedient to God, their evil work will not be the basis for God’s decision about our lives. 

One final point Peter made about God being our judge is the perspective we need to have during our “stay on earth.” Peter said we are to onduct ourselves “in fear.” This fear should motivate us to be doing what God has commanded. While the word “fear” sometimes means respect, in this context it means to have terror of; to live in dread of the certainty that God will punish those who are not living in a way to be holy as God is holy. 

Christians should love God as their Father. They should also fear God because He is their judge. Christians should be constantly aware that God is watching, and one day He will judge their “works.” Therefore, let every Christian be daily living God’s way. 

Carlton G. McPeak ([email protected])
is an evangelist working in the Florida Gateway region. Scriptural quotations from the NASB.