I'm not much of an accountant. I basically try to spend less money than I make and go from there. So far I have been able to get away with it living by this philosophy. However, I do take account of how I live my life here on earth. I could be more mindful of my choices, and I have a lot of help from the Holy Spirit. My spiritual account is the most important account I will ever be held responsible for.

There is a healthy reality that God has made clear to us in His word. Though heaven is about relationship and faith in His provision of His Son Jesus Christ to cover our sin, how we live here on earth will matter in eternity. It doesn't hurt us to give regular attention to this account as best we can.

I'm not saying that I have any idea how God will see the account of my life. I know it’s not just what I do, but why I do it. He tells me I don't even know when my heart is pure or poisoned in Jeremiah 7:9:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

This doesn't bother me. I don't think about the things that I can’t know for sure. I simply focus on what I think He wants me to be doing with my life, confirmed in His word and go from there.

If you really live your life like this, what Paul calls—watching for His appearing, you are more likely to have the account you would like to give. The Holy Spirit is constantly trying to get our attention away from the focus of this world that doesn't matter much for eternity. We have help, but we need to choose whether to listen to His calling—that feels less natural, or to focus on things that seem urgent but really don't matter in the end.

In his last letter to Timothy, his son in the faith, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:8:

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.

I'm sure Paul was taking account of his life in the days that he wrote this letter from prison knowing that his execution was imminent. I'm sure that it was not the first time he thought about what might happen when he met our Lord. He appeared to live his whole life with a heavenly perspective. He didn't yell, scream and complain each time God permitted him to be beaten, shipwrecked or imprisoned. He didn't care about his prison record here on earth. What mattered to Paul was living his days getting to know God and doing His will as best he could.

We will each give account of our earthly lives. I want to pay more attention to my heavenly account than what I focus on here on earth. I go to my retirement planning meetings because I need to be ready for however many years God leaves me here, but my real focus is on growing closer to God and figuring out what He planned for me to do while I am here to do it.