Our secret heart

"When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are the law to themselves.  They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness;  and their own conscience will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all."  Romans 2:14-16 (NRSV).

Although this scripture passage talks about Jewish law and unbelieving Gentiles, the idea that Paul is conveying is a message for Christians today.

Going to church every Sunday is not a requirement to be saved.  However, God desires that we seek hard after Him, and to that end, attending church is a way to seek God.  And, the church seems to be a preferred way that God speaks to mankind, because it is mainly through the church or religious organizations that the great commission to make disciples of all nations is accomplished. Matthew 28:19.

A question that is often asked is how God will judge those who have never heard the gospel.  According to the scripture above, God will not judge any of us according to a man made law, but according to the law that is written on our hearts.  There is another component to God's judgment as well, and that is that God will judge THROUGH CHRIST the secret thoughts of all. 

Every human being has secret thoughts that we harbor and cherish, and most of us would do anything we could to protect those thoughts from being discovered.  However, God knows our secret thoughts on an even deeper level than we know them. God, the great psychologist, understands the deep, deep pain from which our sinful thoughts are born, and He looks with grace, through Christ, to judge those thoughts. 

 

To put it simply, this is why we cannot judge another human being. If we want God to judge our secret hearts with grace, then we must allow God to judge everyone's secret heart with grace.