So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. – Romans 14:12, KJV

If you look up the definition of “value” in the dictionary, you’ll see several explanations of what the word means. A simple definition from Merriam-Webster.com is, “the amount of money that something is worth : the price or cost of something.” Another great definition I’ve heard is this: value is the present worth of anticipated benefits arising from ownership. Putting these two definitions together, we realize that the amount of money we think something is worth is tied to how much we think we’ll benefit from owning that thing. Now, money is not the only way you can pay for something. You can pay for something with other things, such as your time, your talent, or valuable information you possess. No matter what form the payment takes, however, the payment is more or less a reward you give others in exchange for those others providing valuable benefits to you.

From time to time, we should ask ourselves a penetrating question: how much value does God see in us? You could also ask the question this way: how much reward is God willing to give us in exchange for the benefit we bring to Him? From a salvation standpoint, God sees tremendous value in us. This is self-evident, for only by seeing tremendous value in us could He stomach the pain of sending Jesus Christ to pay the penalty of sin for us. Of course, we didn’t earn God’s love or salvation; He gave it to us when we were unlovable, riddled with and covered in the filth of sin. But, when we accept His free gift of salvation, when we obey His commandments, and when we live life His way, we bring the benefits of love (Matthew 22:37-39), friendship (John 15:15), and fellowship (1 Corinthians 1:9) before His throne.

From a post-salvation standpoint, the Bible is clear that God finds value in us based on what we do (or don’t do) for Him after we are saved. As GotQuestions.org describes:

Romans 14:10-12 says, “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat…so then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Second Corinthians 5:10 tells us, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” In the context, it is clear that both scriptures are referring to Christians, not unbelievers. The judgment seat of Christ, therefore, involves believers giving an account of their lives to Christ. The judgment seat of Christ does not determine salvation; that was determined by Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf (1 John 2:2) and our faith in Him (John 3:16). All of our sins are forgiven, and we will never be condemned for them (Romans 8:1). We should not look at the judgment seat of Christ as God judging our sins, but rather as God rewarding us for our lives. Yes, as the Bible says, we will have to give an account of ourselves. Part of this is surely answering for the sins we committed. However, that is not going to be the primary focus of the judgment seat of Christ.

At the judgment seat of Christ, believers are rewarded based on how faithfully they served Christ (1 Corinthians 9:4-27; 2 Timothy 2:5). Some of the things we might be judged on are how well we obeyed the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), how victorious we were over sin (Romans 6:1-4), and how well we controlled our tongues (James 3:1-9). The Bible speaks of believers receiving crowns for different things based on how faithfully they served Christ (1 Corinthians 9:4-27; 2 Timothy 2:5). The various crowns are described in 2 Timothy 2:5, 2 Timothy 4:8, James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:4, and Revelation 2:10. James 1:12 is a good summary of how we should think about the judgment seat of Christ: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

As the excerpt above well explains, God will reward us on the day of judgment in direct proportion to how much benefit we bring to Him while we are alive. The more we obey, the more we’ll be rewarded. The less we obey, the less we’ll be rewarded.

If you were to gauge right now your value to God as a saved individual, how much treasure do you think you currently have in your account in Heaven? The answer for most of us is sobering, and we ought to use this sobering answer as a motivation to get busy living life God’s way.