In many cases individuals suppose they can go to heaven just because they are a good person. This is contrary to what happened when Jesus was being crucified. There was a thief also crucified with him. That man was a bona fide criminal by his own admission. At first, he joined with others mocking Jesus. Then later he realized his error. He had no merits to his name. There was nothing that could be said good about him. His entire life was dedicated to not being a good person. There was no way he could earn salvation with the promise of going to heaven.
As the clock ticked away for both of them facing death, the thief repented and asked Jesus if he could be with him when he came into his kingdom. Jesus said that he would be with him that day in paradise. This is contrary to what most people believe. Let us ask ourselves exactly what we should or could do that would merit going to heaven. Let us also ask ourselves exactly how much effort a person needs to exert in being able to qualify for heaven. Whenever we try, we will always slip and fail because everyone knows that none of us are perfect.
If we examine all the religions of the world which are many, they all have one thing in common. To qualify for eternal bliss, Nirvana, heaven, or rewards the believer of that particular religion must meet the standard of ritual by good works. In every single case religion obliges a human to find their own way to heaven or equivalent thereof according to the teachings of the religion.
But we raise the question according to the standard of good works, what if the person does not have the opportunity to earn heaven? The first thing I said in this blog deals with the issue. Good works cannot be a standard for heavenly rewards. Simply put, such a standard is very unfair. Even those within a certain religion may not be able to conform to such standards. Some of those standards could mean to crawl up the mountain on hands and knees. What if a person is paralyzed or injured and could not crawl up the mountain? How fair is it that that person has no assurance of eternity?
The only reasonable solution is to take the question of eternity out of man’s hands and place it back where it belongs in God’s hands. God is the one that has been offended by man’s sin. Only God is the one who can provide the solution. Of course, we know according to John 3:16 Jesus is the solution. Why is he the solution? After all, was he not a human? The only difference between Jesus and anyone of us on the human scale is that he lived his life perfectly without sin. He was able to go through the same type of temptations and troubles as any of us experience. He had troubles and difficulties. He had disappointments and hurts. He had people fail him and turn away from him. It was not until after his resurrection that his own family believed in him as God.
He was willing to let his body be slaughtered on the cross innocently as a means to intercede with the Heavenly Father for all of our sins. Since animals could not face temptation or be perfect in the way they lived, only Jesus as a human could be an adequate substitute for the judgment that faces all of us. Since the Garden of Eden, the shedding of blood was a necessity to cover sins because life is in the blood. Jesus shed his blood as the final and full sacrifice in our behalf to appease the judgment of God. That means that our promise of an eternal heaven is not based on our good works but is based on the work that Jesus did on the cross. This is why we must accept him as our Savior. Only Jesus can make the difference between judgment and grace, between wrath and life. He could have refused to go on the cross and save his life. That would have defeated the very purpose that he was born.
You may ask where good works fit into God’s plan. Good works do not precede eternal joy. Good works is the evidence that we have Christ in our life and enjoy the promise of an everlasting heaven. We do not do good works to earn salvation. We do good works because we have salvation. Anyone that has been relying on their own good works to earn God’s smile needs to realize the faulty thinking they have maintained. It is our duty to our own selves that we recognize Jesus as the Son of God who died on the cross to pay for our sins and then rose again conquering death in our behalf. It is good sense that we tell God about our regrets for are sinful nature and our sinful behavior to whatever degree it has been demonstrated. Afterwards, we live out our belief that Jesus is our Savior. Thereafter, the way we live our lives, our attitudes or the words we speak all falls under being a born-again Christian.
Christian Writer 