Daniel 5:27 (TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.)

Before God passes judgment, He weighs a person in the balances of His Word to see whether they can be spared or eliminated.

He weighs you according to how you honour and obey His Word. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was sent into the bush to eat grass for seven years, but he came back to acknowledge the supremacy of the Most High above all other gods.

But his son, Belshazzar, had not humbled his heart. He used the vessels of God’s house to entertain his concubines in the presence of his idols. He mocked the King of the universe.

You can see the difference between the father and his son.

He weighs whether to spare or destroy, and it depends on your attitude towards His Word.

A farmer went to his garden to see the progress of his plants. He saw a tree that only covered the ground, with no fruit on it. He decided to cut down the tree. Why should it continue to occupy the ground?

But the dresser told the farmer to let it alone for one more season: “Let me put some effort into it, but if it continues to be like this, you may come and cut it down.”

God measures you by your attitude towards His Word. He measures your obedience and disobedience to His commandments. He chose those who followed His commandments as His friends and those who disobeyed them as His enemies.

When you dishonour His Word, you have already dishonoured Him, for His Word represents Him. Where the word of a king is, there is power.

He measures you by the level of love you have for Him and humanity at large. You cannot say you love God but hate your fellow human beings.

He weighs your impact on humanity, whether negatively or positively. He does not look only at the past, but also at what you can become in the future.

He weighed the lives of Esau and his brother Jacob while they were still in the womb. He knew whose birthright would have no meaning to him. He knows who will betray and who will deny Him. He deals with people according to what He finds in their nature.

He could not forgive Judas because He knew he would not repent, despite all the preaching and teaching he had heard from his Master. But He knew Peter’s future. His name was Simon, which means reed, something that may be driven away by every wind, but He changed it to Peter, the stone, for the other apostles to follow as they led the flock to greener pastures.

If God would not find anything good in you, either for the present or the future, He would have no reason to spare you from any evil. There would be no reason for keeping enemies who will eventually turn around to betray Him.

He only keeps the wicked alive for the day of destruction, as He kept Pharaoh to show the earth His mightiness, which eventually brings glory to His name.

He also keeps good people to manifest His glory. Everything was created for His glory, whether positively or negatively.

He weighs human service to Him in the balance of His Word, whether it will be consumed by fire or remain as gold.

He weighs your effort in His house and your commitment. If it is not producing fruit or bringing forth wild grapes, it depends on the fruit of your labour in His vineyard.

If God were to weigh you in the balances, would you be found wanting, or would you make Him happy?

King Saul was not able to meet the divine criteria for his kingdom, and God abandoned him to himself. He eventually ended up consulting the spirit of the dead.

God’s balance is His Word. He measures you by the faith you have in keeping His Word.

It is the amount of His Word you keep in your heart that will not let you sin against Him, and the amount of the Word you keep makes you bring forth fruits of repentance.

Faith in His Word makes you righteous before Him.

Had Belshazzar had an iota of faith in the God of Israel, just like his father’s faith and confession to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, he would not have ended up being destroyed with thousands of his enemies in a day.

The amount of honour given to God is manifested in the way you treat your body as a sacrifice on His altar. You cannot say you honour God and dishonour your body with the properties of Jezebel.

Your body is God’s temple on earth. If you cannot treat it as such, how do you treat the temple of bricks?

If you do not give honour to whom it is due, your body is no exception.

The Bible says the measure you give to others is the same measure God will give to your bosom. Be prepared to be treated the way you treat others.

The way you also treat the children in the kingdom shows the level of your humility in the kingdom. I am not referring to children biologically, but to the babes in the kingdom.

Unless you become like little children, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

It is not until God comes down to see how you honour others. The honour you give to God is shown in the way you treat others.

Abraham had been honouring God before He came down in the physical to meet with him. The moment God appeared with His angels, he identified Him and invited Him to his house.

Your faith in God and His Word determines your righteousness before Him. No matter how many fruits of the Spirit are manifesting in you, if you lack love, you will be found wanting in His presence, for love is the root that holds the branches of the tree together. Without it, you have failed in all your endeavours to please Him and will be cut down when its time comes.

God measures you by what you do secretly rather than what you do openly. He measures motives more than actions.

Some Christians will be surprised on the last day because what they expected to remain secret forever shall be announced on the rooftop, whether good or bad. They will be given the same measure as they give others.

Prayer: Father, when the roll shall be called up yonder, don’t let me be found wanting, in Jesus’ name, amen.