Waist Deep 2018 - July 29

Obadiah 15 “As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your head.” (NIV)

Although he’s extremely patient with us, one day he will hold us accountable for how we’ve lived.*

Verse one of Obadiah clearly states that he is reporting God’s message to Edom – not to me or you. But, as in verse 15, when we find the same principle in the New Testament, the message may also apply to us. 

When you read this verse, do you automatically give it a negative spin? When you consider being paid in kind for what you have done and having your deeds return upon your head, do you think of them as neutral terms, neither good nor bad? II Corinthians 5: 10, Paul lets us in on a secret: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (Emphasis added.)

If we have not lived a righteous life, God’s words to Obadiah – and even Paul’s words - could leave us with a sense of dread. But if we have lived our lives washed in the blood of Christ, we have nothing to fear. Our bad deeds will be erased from our record and only our good deeds will return upon our heads!

We can’t prevent God’s judgment but we can be saved from it.*