Many people believe if they have been “good,” then they will go to heaven when they die. After all, they may not have committed murder and have tried to be mostly kind to others through life.
In God’s eyes, though, these are too low of a bar to cross over into heaven. You see, being good isn’t enough for God.
In the Bible, God gave an exhaustive list of laws, including the famous Ten Commandments, for his people to obey. But the purpose was not to set the bar so high that nobody could join him forever.
As explained in Romans 3:19-21, the Law’s real purpose is, “… so that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law none of mankind will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes knowledge of sin.”
When God’s people broke the law, or “sinned,” they had to offer sacrificial offerings as a way of saying, “Sorry God, I won’t do that again,” which is another word for repentance and justification.
Instead, the law was given so we could see how far we come to God’s righteous standard, and that we need a sacrifice — or a savior — to resolve our sin in God’s eyes. As noted in Galatians 3:23, “Therefore, the Law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”
The problem wasn’t with the Law, but with you and me.
Expecting to live perfectly would be like trying to swim to Hawai‘i from Santa Barbara. Some Olympians might make it to the Channel Islands, some to the harbor buoy, but most would only get to the end of Stearns Wharf. None would make it to Hawai‘i.
Have you ever tried to be good every minute of every day? That’s God’s standard. He even watches our thoughts. Here’s just one example from Matthew 5:27-29: “But I (Jesus) say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
We fatally flawed humans could never fulfill the Law’s requirements, not even for a day, much less a lifetime.
Worse yet, even if you lived a perfect life and, on your deathbed, told a little “white” lie, the Law would consider you as guilty as a lifetime degenerate. According to James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.”
So what is “good enough” for God? Only one man was able to live a perfect, sinless life. That man is Jesus. How much better it would be if we could ride into Heaven on Jesus’ coattails.
According to Romans 8:1-3, that is exactly what is possible, “… there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus … For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh (you and me), God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh …”
Jesus got it right FOR us! The Good News is that through faith in (Jesus) Christ, we are “credited” with Christ’s righteousness as though WE had lived a perfect life. Our job, then, is not to try to be good, but to allow God to transform our hearts so that being good is second nature.
Maybe that’s why, in Matthew 22: 37-40, when Jesus was asked to name the most important commandment, he didn’t point to avoiding murder, lying, stealing or cussing. Instead, he said it’s to love God “… with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind … the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
How About You?
Isn’t it tiring trying to be good enough? It’s not in our human nature. That’s why we need to believe in what, and who, Jesus said and did for us.
It’s the central theme of the entire Bible, including the Ten Commandments and entire law. As written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
My hope is you’ll stop trying and start believing.
— D.C. Collier is a Bible teacher, discipleship mentor and writer focused on Christian apologetics. A mechanical engineer and internet entrepreneur, he is the author of My Origin, My Destiny, a book focused on Christianity’s basic “value proposition.” Click here for more information, or contact him at don@peervalue.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.