Does God keep a tally?
Does he, as some like to think, weigh the good we’ve done in our life
against the bad and then bring out the heavenly scales at the Pearly Gate to
determine whether or not he should let us in?
All we have to do is make sure we have more good deeds on our balance
sheet than bad deeds and we’re a shoe-in.
Strangely, it doesn’t work that way… though from a human
way of thinking (if we were to make up the rules, for instance), that formula
makes sense. Sort of. Until it goes the other way, that is—like the
guy that’s good all his life and then robs two banks and sends a dozen people to
an early grave. That person should be
punished with the hottest fires of hell!
Right? What if he repents a month later and opens a homeless shelter and
feeds the poor (assuming, in my somewhat outlandish example, he doesn’t get
caught for his former crimes). Back on
the road to heaven? How are the scales
looking?
Justice, from a human perspective can get pretty tricky.
God dealt with this very question in Ezekiel, chapter
33. Beginning in verse 12, the prophet
is instructed by God:
“Therefore, son of
man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s
former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked
repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The
righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were
formerly righteous.’”
Ouch, that’s harsh.
Why do you suppose God is such a stickler on the “righteous” guy—the guy
who was good, but then did something bad?
“If I tell a
righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their
righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done
will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. And if I say to
a wicked person, ‘You will surely die, but they then turn away from their sin
and do what is just and right…that person will surely live; they will not die.
None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them.”
So much for the “scales” idea.
It’s interesting to note that God doesn’t change. Even in the Old Testament, they weren’t
getting to Heaven by their own righteousness.
Ephesians 2:8-9 explains this idea of trusting in ones own
righteousness: “For it is by grace you
have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God—not by works so that no one can boast.”
We shouldn't be trusting in our own righteousness, or boasting about what a good person we are. Why? Because it's a deception. Simply put, it’s impossible to be good enough on our own
to attain eternal life with God. James
2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole
law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” Face it, we can’t do it. It takes perfection, and that ain’t
human. And yet, God is not willing that
any should perish.
Fortunately for us, God put a plan in place to solve this seemingly impossible problem… that glorious, wonderful, mystical plan of redemption. The one where he, Himself, enters the
desperate fragile dirty world of humanity in the corruptible form of a
man. He spends 33 years blending in –
feeling our joy and our pain – experiencing in the most intimate way what it’s
like to be human. And yet he is perfect. He has to be, because that’s what it
takes. When the mission is over, he lays
down his life and willingly spills his own perfect blood as the price for our
sins… and says to us all, I give you this gift. I give it to you because it’s the only
possible way you can spend eternity with Me.
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. No man cometh to the Father except by me.” John 14:6.
Who can understand
it? It doesn’t make human sense, but there
it is.
Oh, and about those scales? They don't exist. The only thing that matters is what you do with Jesus. Check out that Gift I was talking about...before you take the journey to the
Pearly Gates.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned
with salt..”
Colossians 4:6
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