I sometimes fear that God’s judgment will be harsh because, after all, he is God and perhaps he expects much more from me than I think. Are my fears founded?
We should never fear being judged by God. He is our Father, and he loves us more than we love ourselves. He wants us to be with him forever in heaven, not separated from him in hell.
As St Paul writes, Jesus wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (cf. 1 Tim 2:4).
What is more, to help us live well and deserve to go to heaven, God gives us abundant graces throughout our life, including the grace of forgiving our sins every time we tell him we are sorry.
He is just and fair, as we have seen, but he is also merciful. He is the father of the prodigal son, who celebrates with open arms the return of his repentant son (cf. Lk 15:11-24).
What is more, it is Jesus himself who will be our judge. He says so: “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father… Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man” (Jn 5:22-23, 25-27).
Yes, Jesus, the Son of man, will be our judge.
He often called himself the Son of man, a title that goes back to the Old Testament. As he was born of Mary, he is truly man, truly human, and so he knows our human nature, with all its weaknesses.
It is thus consoling to know that we will be judged by one who is human like us, as well as being, of course, God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
A very revealing experience of the judgment is related by Dr Raymond Moody in his book on near-death experiences The Light Beyond (Rider, UK, 2005). It concerns a man who was living a criminal life when he was struck by lightning on the golf course and “died.”
He had a near-death experience in which he passed through a tunnel into a bright pastoral setting where he met a being of light whom he called “God,” who led him through a life review. In it, he relived his entire life, not only seeing his actions but feeling their effects on others. The experience changed him completely for the better.
This man did not speak of fear or dread in the judgment, even though he had been living a criminal life. He spoke rather of a peaceful, pastoral scene and a loving God, who showed him heaven where he could go if he repented.
Feeling the effects of his actions on others in the judgment is an experience that a good number of people who have had near-death experiences relate. It must be very sobering to feel what others have felt as a result of our actions, whether good or bad.
What we too will experience in the judgment is a loving God, who knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows everything about us, our thoughts as well as our actions.
We read in the book of Psalms: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether… You know me right well” (Ps 139:1-4, 14).
In another passage we read: “The Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).
This is a great consolation for us. While others, who see only our outward behaviour, sometimes misjudge us and attribute to us motives we never had, God knows us completely. He knows our true motives, our intentions, and he will judge us fairly.
So we should never fear the judgment.
What we should do is strive to be very sincere with ourselves, to avoid sins and do as much good as we can, telling God often that we are sorry for our sins. Then we can look forward to the judgment with great hope and peace.