How Are We Judged?

He knows what we are made of. He remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103.14)

Everything God has created comes from the elements we find in the physical world. They are cosmic, the result of star dust. Out of nothing, God has created everything. Humans were formed from the earth or dust. What is significant here is that God knows we are but dust. Because we are the pride of His creation, but yet only dust, He is most merciful. So how will He judge us?

Elder Aimilianos in his commentary says,

Will He judge me according to the mud and clay from which I have been formed? No. He will judge me according to His love, He will look upon us in the light of what we are made. He knows that, being vessels of clay, we are fragile, like the pitcher that breaks at the fountain and quickly returns to dust (cf. Ecc 12:1).

We must not forget the foundation of our mortal life, a form and life given to us by God. He is continually shaping us to become more perfect, like Christ. He will forget how He formed us for the purpose of perfecting us. Everything He does for us, every struggle we face, are done our of His love and hope of our perfection. Knowing where we have come from He is sympathetic and compassionate towards us.

Ref: Psalms and the Life of Faith, by Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, pp 285-286.

Ten Points for an Orthodox Way of Life