I grew up attending church almost every Sunday since I was a little girl, but to be honest, throughout the years I’m not quite sure that I fully understood what being a Christian meant. I remember the time a friend talked to me about Christianity, but I couldn’t imagine then why anybody would be into this stuff. Once I entertained the thought that God is good for two kinds of people: the “religious” type out there or the criminals who needed help. I wasn’t sure that I belonged to either group because I thought I was already a pretty “good” person since I wasn’t a criminal. And I certainly did not think I was the “religious” type. I had found church to be less than exciting.

It wasn’t until my junior year in high school that I began to think more seriously about God. I started to attend church a bit more because my best friends at the time attended the same church. Though my motives may not have been the purest at the time, God was able to use it for something good because He planted seeds in my heart. Around the same time God had been allowing certain circumstances to occur in my life to get my attention. I felt I needed some comfort, and when I found none around me (neither left nor right), I finally looked up. C. S. Lewis said this about pain: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Out of His love, God used my circumstance to get my attention and helped me realize my need of Him. I realized life would be utterly meaningless and senseless if I ignore the very One who spoke this whole universe into existence. Interestingly, even the skeptic H. G. Wells once stated, “If there is no God, nothing matters. If there is a God, nothing else matters.”

Well, as I mentioned earlier, I thought I was a pretty “good” person, because I had viewed myself with a distorted moral lens (not through God’s objective lens). I didn’t think I was that bad when I compared myself to a few people. Have you ever thought an old T-shirt was clean and white, but after placing it next to a new one, suddenly it doesn’t look as white or as clean anymore? Well, the same is true with our hearts. When I’m viewed against the pure, holy, and perfect righteousness of God, suddenly my “true color” comes to view—revealing the darkness of a heart’s depravity apart from God’s grace. “If you want to show a crooked stick, just lay a straight one by the side of it,” as the saying goes. No wonder the Bible says that even our “good works” are like filthy rags before holiness and perfection (Isaiah 64:6).

Often times we like to grade ourselves “on the curve.” But I learned that because God is holy and just, His standard is perfection. The only way I could get to heaven on my own is if I were without sin. But, who of us hasn’t broken the law? All of us have missed the mark, or the bull’s eye, so to speak. The Bible says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” (James 2:10) Have you ever lied? If so, what does that make you? It means you’re a liar, right? Have you ever stolen (the value is irrelevant)? Have you ever cheated? Have you ever looked at someone and committed adultery in your heart?

If you have done any one of those things, then you have sinned. And even one sin separates us from a holy God. All of us are sinners. Someone asked: If a man dangles over the lake of fire by a chain of ten links, and nine of those ten are made of forged steel while one is made of crepe paper, what would happen? Of course, he’ll fall right into the fire. Yet, years ago I had thought that nine of my ten works, so to speak, were made of “forged steel” and good enough to keep me from falling into the “fire” of hell. I had imagined my good and bad works on balance scales. I thought that as long as my “good works” outweigh the bad then I’d be okay. Haven’t we all at one point in our life assumed that we were pretty “good” enough? We’ve clinged to a chain of our “good works,” even though in reality all ten links are made of “crepe paper”! Even the best of our works is tainted and stained with selfishness and pride. If you have rejected God, the only thing that is keeping you from falling into the fire even this second is the sheer providence and will of almighty God. His grace has kept you perhaps to allow you time to repent. But you now dangle over the fire by the slim thread of God’s grace; and He may withdraw His sustaining hand from under you anytime. Please remember, the statistic is still true: ten out of ten persons will eventually die one day. The Bible reminds us, “…it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27).

Once I pondered: If God is loving, then surely He won’t let anyone go to hell. But I learned that though God is a God of love, He’s also a God of justice. There is a reason we have courts of law to uphold justice. I can’t imagine a just judge who allows murderers and rapists to roam around the streets freely without penalty. We’d expect a good judge to serve justice and give penalty for a violation. Yet, how much more would a holy, just God! His absolute justice demands a penalty for our sins. That’s why Jesus Christ came down in the form of human flesh 2,000 years ago. He paid the penalty of sins of those who would believe and receive Him as Savior and Lord. And after three days, He resurrected from the dead, proving his victory over sin and death.

Well, as I mentioned earlier, my “good works” are no better than the filthy shirt. One day, when I stand before the judgment throne of God, I dare not approach God clothed in my filthy rags of “righteousness.” But, God has been so merciful to me by giving me the faith to believe and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Christ is my Substitute: He not only died in my place, but lived also on my behalf the perfect, sinless life that I could never live myself. It is not only Christ’s death that saved me, but also His life—a life which He lived in perfect obedience to God’s moral law while He was on earth. My sins have been imputed and placed upon Christ on the cross; and in return, His perfect righteousness has been imputed (credited) to me by faith so that one day I can stand before God, being clothed in the pure white robe of Christ’s righteousness instead of my own filthy rags (Phil. 3:9, II Cor. 5:21). This is how God can declare me—who is inherently unrighteous—as righteous (positionally in Christ). And only Christ’s righteousness—which is perfect, spotless, and blameless—would ever avail before the holy God. May I join the apostle Paul when he said:

“…that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” –Philippians 3:8-9

How about you? Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say to you: “Why should I let you into My heaven?” What would you answer Him?

Please don’t trust in your own “goodness” to save you because good works cannot earn heaven. No one could ever allow his or her heart to rear its ugly head and say “I have done this or that to bring about my salvation.” It is all of God’s grace and mercy, not of our own merits. The Bible tells us:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

I believe it was Jonathan Edwards who aptly said, “The only thing man brings to his salvation is the sin that makes it necessary.” But please don’t misunderstand, though. Yes, of course we are to do good works. But the Bible teaches us that true good works in the Christian’s life are not the cause of salvation; rather, they are the natural fruits of salvation produced by the heart that has been changed and transformed by God. Faith alone saves, but a saving faith is never alone—it always produces good works.

If you’re reading this and have never placed your faith (trust) in Jesus Christ, I hope that you will not wait another hour, but that you will cry out to God for His mercy. Ask Him for His forgiveness, and to give you the faith to believe in Christ as your Lord and Savior. The Bible promises us:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)

Thanks so much for reading. I am in a lifelong process and journey of learning. I’m learning that the Christian life is about having a personal relationship with God—the Creator of the universe who knows all my weaknesses, failures, and shortcomings … yet Who chooses to love me nonetheless.

If you ever want to discuss more about Christianity or if I can be of any help, please feel free to contact me. I’d love to hear from you.