Being Good and Going to Heaven
Though the man on the street would most likely agree with this statement, Scripture does not support it…anywhere. The only way that God will accept us is through Jesus’ work (John 14:6), not ours. God points out through Isaiah that even our best works are filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)
This concept that there is nothing good we can bring into the relationship with the Lord is disturbing. After all, man is capable of doing good and there is plenty of evidence to support this claim. Unfortunately, God’s point is missed when thinking this way. He is not looking for good, He is looking for perfection…and that is quite a gap.
God is unmistakeably clear on this point. Twice He says that man has to be holy, for he is holy. (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16) That is to say that man has to be perfect for God is perfect.
So despite all the good man does on earth, it is counted as polluted because they are not perfect.
Still, many will bristle at the notion that being good will not grant them a place into heaven, so we have to ask the question, “What is good? and “Who defines it?” Are there degrees to good?…like kind of good, real good, very good, excellent and so on. What degree of good do you have to be in order to go to heaven? Where is the definitive work that answers these questions?
There isn’t one…even the Bible doesn’t answer these questions because they are the wrong questions to ask.
It seems to me that the root of this thought is bound up in either pride or ignorance. Pride is a dangerous thing, particularly when one looks through the lens of man. I’m better than him. I have done more good things. He is worse off than me. I could not be all that bad, after all I never have committed adultery or killed anyone. From man’s eyes these statements may be true, but from God’s eyes He is painfully aware that none of that matters in order to get into Heaven.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, execpt through me.” John 14:6.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
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