Actually, that is my view. And that would be the part of judgement that will be most uncomfortable.
Not accounting for your sins, which are forgiven, but being shown the many times God put me or you into a situation for a reason, crossing paths with someone for a reason, and I being too caught up in my own drama, fail to see what my role ought to have been. And the consequences in the lives of the people around me because I didn't see it.
"All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God..."
The sin part is covered. Its the falling short part that is going to be painful to see when and if it is shown to us.
Just you being you, with God leading you, you will no doubt have many situations where you were there to be a stabilizing influence, to say a kind word, to bail someone out of a jam, to lead from the front or influence from behind the scenes, because you were the only one of God's chess pieces available. And probably you did, without realizing it, what was required of you. But the times you didn't, the times you thought it was about you when it was about someone else near you, will be painful to see.
I might be wrong. But that is how I think.
Beautifully said and I strongly agree, dear brother in Christ! It would hurt but I would want to know the true effect of my poor decisions or missed opportunities.
Certainly we are responsible for the negative consequences we create for other people by virtue of our decisions. A mature person weighs the probable consequences of various alternative actions before he makes his choice.
We do live in an age, however, that radically elevates and isolates the human individual from any sense of participation in, or duty, with respect to the wider community. Such a person very likely does not at all fear God's Judgment, for the simple reason that he either doubts God "exists," or has positively denied Him. What occurs then is a major disordering of the individual, and concomitant disordering of whatever his acts can reach.
The "war on Christianity" proceeds apace; and as it does, our society becomes more and more chaotic, disordered, dysfunctional, crass, greedy, and vicious. Certainly God does not intend for his children to live in that way, but He leaves the choice to us. And ineluctably, we will have to account to God for our choices....
"All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...." We necessarily fall short of the glory of God for we are images, mere reflections of Him, not the "original" being imaged or reflected.
Yet the imago Dei in which we were created is the most important part of us. And the most important relation we can have in life is our relation to God. Simply put, this relation is expressed in the Great Commandment, to love God with all one's heart and soul and mind and strength, and — the following corollary — to love our neighbor as ourself. The cardinal Christian virtues of faith and hope and love, and the help of the Holy Spirit, are our faithful guides to life more abundantly in this life and the next, for ourselves and those whom we influence by our words and deeds.
But we all fall short. And the reckoning for our falling short that we owe Jesus Christ on Judgment Day will doubtless be painful.
It seems to me the best we can do is to follow Christ, to try to live constantly in the Presence of our Lord, in direct relation to Him. Our God is a merciful God....
Thank you dear brother marron for sharing your beautiful reflections.