Am I Good Enough?

Anyone who believes that there is a heaven and/or a hell has asked themselves this question because it is likely that they also believe that "good" people must go to heaven. But what is the truth? Can we be "good" enough to stand before God and enter heaven when we die?

The Bible says this: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" - Romans 3:23

That statement alone says a lot. All have done wrong, which means that no one is perfect.

Ok so if no one is perfect, what qualifies as being "good enough"?

Thankfully someone in Scripture directs this question to Jesus and this is what He says in response: "No one is good except God alone." - Luke 18:19

Wait a second...but what if I've done insert number good things in my life? God has to let me into heaven. It's not like I'm a murderer!

The problem with that kind of logic is that, in God's eyes, no sin is greater than another. For example, Jesus says this, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment" - Matthew 5:21-22

So basically if you've ever been angry with someone, you are just as bad as a murderer.

But what if my "good works" outweigh the bad things I've done? That has to count for something right?

Actually, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." - Isaiah 64:6

God sees all of our perceived "good works" as filthy rags. Why? Because of a self-righteous attitude.

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart." - Proverbs 21:2

Where is your heart at? Why do you do your good things?

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 6:1

Jesus warns us that any "good" we do with selfish motives does not earn us anything before God. Bragging to others that you give to charity to look "good" in the eyes of others earns only that, the approval of other human beings who have no power to open the gates of heaven for us. Woot.

The truth is that there is nothing we can say or do that can get us into heaven. We can never be "good" enough on our own.

We can only become righteous by an act of God. We "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." - Romans 3:24-25 "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

Until God changes our perspective so we see that we are sinners who have been offered grace and we respond by putting our faith in Jesus Christ, we are not "good." It is only by God's work in and through us that we are able to do true good works because our ultimate purpose here on earth is for the glory of God and only He can make us righteous in His eyes.

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31

Laziness

Lazy people bug me. Especially when those lazy people are professing Christians.

These last couple of weeks I have not gotten much sleep and this has led me to be quite tired at work and I have been tempted to be lazy. When my co-workers say that, "It's ok to take extra time to do tasks because you are getting paid by the hour," I have to disagree because God holds me to a higher standard than that. In fact, as a follower of Christ, I am called to be diligent in my work.

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men"  - Colossians 3:23

While my human boss may not know whether or not I am working as hard as I could, God, whom I shall refer to as my overall boss, knows everything.

It also helps to know that the Bible has much wisdom and promises to add to the subject of laziness laced throughout the book of Proverbs.

"The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labour." - Proverbs 12:24

"Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth." - Proverbs 12:27

"Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys." - Proverbs 18:9

"Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger." - Proverbs 19:15

These verses serve as great reminders that the reality is that for those who are lazy (slothful, slack), will have it rough in life while the diligent man, on the contrary, will be blessed. But we must remember that our focus must not be on gaining rewards, especially monetary ones.

"He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this is also vanity." - Ecclesiastes 5:10

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." - 1 Timothy 6:10

It can be hard sometimes to be satisfied with what money I have and how much I make at my job but I need to ask myself on a regular basis, "Why am I here?" While part of the reason is of course to make some money so that I can pay for school and eventually buy a house among other things, it is not the main reason. I stay at my job because I have built a reputation there and I have a strong desire to be a Christ-like example to my co-workers in hopes that they will someday become Christians. Until God makes it clear that I am to leave Canadian Tire, I will stay and work diligently for Him, whether I get more money or not.

"One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.' This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith...They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work." - Titus 1:12-13, 16

This passage talks about more than just being lazy but it serves as an example of those who profess Christ but live as though they don't know Him. Quite harsh words. I don't want to be like the Cretans and I hope that most people would say the same for themselves.

"Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord." - Romans 12:11

This is all about the Lord. I wanted to end with this verse because without a deep and persevering passion for Him everything I said above has little to no meaning. It is because of God and His work within me that causes me to want to challenge my laziness for His sake. I pray for the strength and energy to press on.

Is That...Poop?

I've written about dreams that I've had before and simply because last night was so vivid and weird, here it is...

It all began that I was set to babysit for a young family from my church who have three little girls. Ages 1, 3, and 5. It was the 5-year-old's birthday party and we were going to watch Finding Nemo and eat pink cake. I was super excited to celebrate with the girls and I went downstairs to get the ice cream cake from the freezer. When I came back up the 1-year-old was screaming in her crib so I ran upstairs to see what the commotion was. She had little clumps of greenish yellow stuff in her crib and I immediately thought oh no! Poop!? After cleaning up what I could find of the greenish yellow goop in her crib, I discovered that there was a trail of it leading elsewhere. What's going on? It turned out that the 3-year-old was responsible for the mess and she had the poop all over her hands. I contained myself and managed to speak gently whilst explaining to her that we don't touch poop. After cleaning her up I examined the surroundings. The stuff was everywhere! On the hall carpet, in the bathroom sink, but the 3-year-old's bedroom contained the worst of it. Poop was all over her bed and the floor had little chunks spread about. It was disgusting. I went to retrieve the wipes from the 1-year-old's change table and was horrified to discover that it had chunks of poop in it too! This was an absolute disaster. How did she manage to get poop all over the place in less than two minutes? The consistency was almost goopy, but mostly chunky. I managed to clean up most of it when I thought to myself where is the source? I did not want to find more of it but I decided I'd play detective just in case there was a large portion hiding somewhere. Most of the chunks were in the 3-year-old's room and so I started searching there. After snooping around the bed and dresser a bit with no traces of large portions I found that the closet had greenish yellow stuff in a large yellow container which read "Play-Doh" on the label. Most of it had dried up, which would explain why some of it was in the bathroom sink and therefore wet and goopy everywhere else...

I was happy to wake up very relieved that none of that happened in real life. When I told one of my friends about the dream, she reminded me that my profession of choice will likely contain a lot of "poopy" situations. True that. Too bad not all poop is Play-Doh. :)

Never Get Tired of the Gospel

The word "gospel" simply means "good news." 

Who doesn't want to hear some good news? 

Whether you believe it or not, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best news that ever existed and we have the privilege of sharing it with others so that they may respond to the call of God to salvation.

This morning one of the pastors at my church began a sermon series titled Gospel Conversations with Jesus and today he touched on the story of Nicodemus found in John 3.

We see in verse 2 that Nicodemus was drawn to Jesus as he mentions his notice of the miracles Jesus was doing. If you are a Christian, are people being drawn to the presence of Christ in you?

Verse 3 shows us that it is possible for someone to be religious and moral but still be spiritually dead because the only way to become alive spiritually is to be born again as Jesus says.

It is fitting that Nicodemus asks questions in verse 4 much like the ones I would have thought to ask. What is Jesus talking about? Born again? How is that even possible?

When we look at verses 5-6 we see that Jesus is talking about a spiritual transformation that is only possible with the power of the Holy Spirit. The flesh alone is weak and will always be weak and thus we cannot save ourselves and hope to enter the kingdom of God relying on our own strength (Ezekiel 36-25-27). 

In verse 8 Jesus tells us that those who are born of the Spirit are recognizably changed. As we do not understand the wind but know it exists, so it is with those who are born again spiritually. We know something is different about them but we do not understand it fully.

Jesus then refers back to the story of Moses in verses 14-15 where the Israelites were to look upon a bronze serpent if they were to survive fiery snake bites which God punished them with because of their sin (Numbers 21:4-9). He tells Nicodemus that as the snake image was lifted up for the people to look upon and be saved, so also must He be lifted up for the same purpose. That we might look upon Jesus and believe and be saved from the wrath of God that we deserve because of our sin.

Verses 19-21 explain the judgment of God for those who would not believe. The fact is that those who recognize their spiritual need will gladly come to the light for the glory of God and thus do what is true. It is only by the power of God that we would be humbled enough to see our wickedness and then choose to repent and believe in the Gospel.

So here is the challenge laid before us who are saved. We are called to go and boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ because there is no hope for those who believe in a different gospel. Paul says in Galatians 1:8-10 of those who would try to convince others that there is another way to be saved from hell (good works or infant baptism for example) that they be accursed for they are seeking the approval of man which will ultimately lead them to destruction for they do not fear the Lord.

Jesus is the only way to receive spiritual life! Come my Christian brothers and sisters, let us tell the world of the hope we have and may we never get tired of hearing and sharing the Gospel. May our hearts be filled with awe and thanksgiving to our Lord Jesus :).

I Look to the King by Meredith Andrews

On the battlefield
Where the fight is waged
My enemy is real
And my courage fades

I lift my eyes
Where does my help come from?

I look to the King
Eternal, Immortal,
Invincible God
I stand on the Rock of Ages
My Saviour
He conquered it all
I look to the King

On the battlefield
Of all that lies ahead
Here Your blood will speak
A greater word than death

I lift my eyes
Where does my help come from?

I look to the King
Eternal, Immortal,
Invincible God
I stand on the Rock of Ages
My Saviour
He conquered it all
I look to the King

Victorious, victorious
Reigning over us
Forevermore
Victorious
You alone are victorious
Reigning over us
Forevermore

I look to the King

"Working together with him [Jesus], then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger, by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything." - 2 Corinthians 6:1-10