JUDGING BY APPEARANCE

Humanly speaking, Paul is explaining that as long as we're in our mortal bodies, we will not be in the presence of the Lord, because He is spiritual, so we put off our bodies, in other words, we try and look at things spiritually whenever possible, in order to be present with Him.

For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ,
that every one may receive the things done in his body,
according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad.

Here's a little Daily Bread Crumb to go along with what you just read. The Buddhists and the Hindus have a word for this, which is "karma". Our recent generations describe it with the phrase "what goes around, comes around." Paul just straight up tells the TRUTH about it though, here and in Galatians 6:7, where he says, Whatever you sow, you will also reap. It's judgment, friends, plain and simple.

Here's a couple of things to ponder on while you think about this, and I never grow tired of mentioning this, Your sin will never outweigh God's Grace. Now, here's a question. Do we sometimes pay our debts for bad deeds during this life, before judgment day? We know that charity removes a multitude of sins, 1 Peter 4:8 so are there other things that we go through that also erase bad deeds? Not punishments from God, but maybe unfortunate happenings that are beyond our control. What if you become the victim of something that had nothing to do with your own choices, does that count? What about sacrifice? What about suffering? Fasting? Prayer? Generosity? All these things are interesting things to think about. One thing is for certain. Repentance brings forgiveness, so don't rely on misfortune to clean up your score card with God. Rely on His mercy and your Faith in Christ. The other things are works that do build good character, if you don't do them out of obligation, but out of love.