God the Bookkeeper


Dan_7:10  A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

Rev_20:12-15  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

I once thought that little things did not matter to God - that He was only interested in 'big deals' like murder and theft.

Then I asked Jesus to come into my heart as Savior and Lord, and I began to learn and unlearn a lot - including the fact that little things matter a lot to God.

For example, in 1976, shortly after receiving Jesus into my heart, I read the Bible for the first time and discovered that people who had stolen from others needed to make restitution to pay back what they had stolen with interest and penalties.  Immediately I remembered that as a grocery store clerk I had helped myself to a can of pop (or soda to you soda drinkers) occasionally, or to a candy bar or some other snack.  My conscience was struck, but I thought, "I have no idea how much I stole from the grocery store over the years."  Immediately a number popped into my mind - $619.85.

That number plagued my thoughts repeatedly during the next year.  I would rebuke the devil, but that number remained in my head.

One day as I sat at my desk I decided to try to figure out how much I had stolen from the grocery store.  I calculated $1/week plus statutory interest from the midpoint of my tenure as a grocery clerk.  The result was very close to $619.85!!!  I then realized that it was God who had been plaguing me with that number.  I accepted His calculations.

But I had an excuse.  I said, "Father, I would like to make restitution, but I don't have the money to pay the grocery store back."

Within a week I had ten times that amount of available cash!  So I had no excuses for delaying my payment of restitution.

So I bucked up my courage, wrote a check in that amount, and went to the grocery store.  My former boss what still there, so I explained to him that I had become a Christian and wanted to make restitution for my sins as one of his employees.  He was speechless.  He told me that he would accept that payment, but that no one would ever know who it came from or what it was for.  I walked out the the grocery store thinking that that was the end of my restitution story.

Immediately a new number came to my mind - $685.97!!!

Again I began to rebuke the devil for tormenting me, but it didn't take long this time for me to sit down and calculate the difference between the two numbers.  It turned out to be statutory interest on the first amount for the year that I had delayed in making the restitution payment after He gave me the first amount.

So again I bucked up my courage (please stop laughing at me) and went to the grocery store, gave my former boss another check for the unpaid interest.  Again he was shocked (perhaps more than before!).

As I left the grocery store that second time I sheepishly asked the Lord, "Am I done now?"  A great peace flooded my soul, and I concluded that I was indeed done making restitution for my grocery store misdeeds.  The numbers never came back.

As a result I am convinced that the verses of Scripture quoted above are valid, and that God does indeed have books of account for all of our lives.

The question now becomes one for you, dear reader.  What do God's records show for your life?  I have found that it is a good question to ask God because now I know with great comfort that Jesus paid the price for all of my sins and yours on the Cross, and all He wants of us is to admit our sins and the price we owe according to His calculations, and to take the Payment He has so graciously provided for us to our Heavenly Father, and to make confession and pay the price we owe.

A Christian song comes to my mind:

"Jesus paid it all,
all to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed me white as snow!"