Becoming a Christian
Is being a good person enough to get to heaven?
No, and that turns out to be good news. The Bible says no one is good enough to earn their way to God, but that God offers forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift through Jesus.
The problem with “good enough”
Many people assume God will weigh up their good deeds against their bad ones. The trouble is knowing where the pass mark is. God’s standard is not “better than most people” but perfect love for him and for everyone else, all the time.
For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
A chain with one broken link is a broken chain. By God’s standard everyone falls short, including the people we most admire.
Good deeds can’t cancel bad ones
Imagine someone in court for a serious offence who tells the judge about all the money he has given to charity. The judge might be impressed, but the offence still has to be dealt with. A good judge can’t simply ignore it. In the same way, our good deeds are real, but they don’t remove our sin.
A gift, not a wage
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.
One of the criminals crucified next to Jesus had no time left to turn his life around or do a single good deed. He simply asked Jesus for mercy.
He said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Two men who went to pray
Jesus told a story about a religious man and a tax collector, who in that society was regarded as a cheat and a traitor. The religious man thanked God that he was better than other people. The tax collector could only ask for mercy. Jesus’ verdict on the tax collector surprised his hearers:
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Isn’t that unfair on good people?
It would be, if anyone were good enough. The Bible’s claim is that nobody is, and that God in his kindness offers to everyone what nobody could earn. The offer is the same for the respectable and the disreputable, and it humbles both.
So does it matter how I live?
Yes. Christians try to live good lives, but as a thank-you for being forgiven and not as a way of earning it. The verse that follows the one above about grace says so:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.