Good Enough

I am a good person. I deserve to go to heaven.

This is the principal falsehood embraced by most non-Christians. However, the Lord tells us.

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:18)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)

The problem is with our (human beings) standard for “good” and how to judge if a person is a “good person”. God is a perfect and just judge. So how does he select who is “good enough?” If one person helps 5 old ladies across the street and someone else helps 6 old ladies across the street, which person is the better person? The truth is, in God’s eye, neither one is better than the other or “good enough” for heaven. We are judged by God for the bad (committing sins) that we do, not for the “good.”

Think about a court of law. The judge does not judge you on the “good” that you do, you are judged on the crimes that you commit. If we are judged by the “bad” we do, it’s the same problem regarding justice. Which person is “guilty” of breaking the law? The person that drove 1 mile over the speed limit or the person that drove 6 miles over the speed limit? In the eye of a perfect and just judge, they are both guilty of breaking the law, and both deserve to be sentenced for committing a crime.

That’s the problem with thinking that one’s good acts will earn their way into heaven. There would be no equal justice in that type of system. The only system of justice that works is one in which, you are judged for your crimes (i.e. sins), and anyone who commits one crime is guilty and deserves to be sentenced.

Now, this is not to say that one should not do “good.” Because “doing good” is a commandment from Christ.

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”’ (Mar 12:29-31)

As Christians, we are commanded to “do good,” however we are not judged by how much good we do.