Sunday, March 30, 2008
One of the biggest misconceptions among Christians is that good people go to heaven. It is a difficult idea for those new to the faith to wrap their minds around, the idea that nothing we can do in this life will ever qualify us for a stroll through the pearly gates. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23.
If we were capable of living the perfect life, never committing a single sin, then and only then would we be able to "earn" our way into heaven. However, there has only been one person in the entire history of mankind that can boast this feat, Jesus Christ. You can stop and think of everyone you know and pick out the one person you believe to be the "best" person there is, that person has sinned hundreds, even thousands of times in their life. It may not have been what you would call a big sin, but we forget that God doesn't look at sin the same way man does.
Man ranks sin, we say some sins are okay even beneficial like lying to spare some one's feelings. We say some sin is bad, but then again since it is a common sin that we all indulge in we look the other way when it happens . Other sins are bad, we don't like them and we don't mind saying so when someone commits these acts. Societies even make laws against many of these because they are so universally detestable. Finally there is a rare level of sin that we can only call evil when someone takes another's life or the lives of many. God however operates differently.
As I researched for this devotion I found other people's view points and was amazed at how many places were devoted to this topic of how God views sin. So before I go forward let me substantiate my reasoning behind this claim that God does not see "the sin" he sees "sin".
1) Look at God in human form. When Jesus was nailed to the cross did he cry out to God and say forgive every one but these murderous, blood thirsty Romans and Jews? No, Jesus cried out from the cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
Examine this for a moment. By all accounts this was no more than murder. Jesus had been railroaded through a trial that was a mockery of every justice system known to man, he had been lied about, he had been disrespected and now, now he was being killed. So can we say that murderers are beyond God's forgiveness? No. Jesus forgave his own executioners.
2) Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I don't think that anyone who has done any studying of the scripture would disagree with any of the following statements. Lying is a sin. Stealing is a sin. Cursing is a sin. Looking at a person with lust in your heart is a sin. Putting anything in your life before God is a sin. Disrespecting your parents is a sin. With that said, if we admit these little things are sin, we must also admit that there is not one of us alive that can say we have not committed an act that stems from at least one of these categories. If we are honest then we probably need to claim some from about every category. The wages for these are death. Now when we talk about murder, rape, violent crimes and heinous sins sometimes we agree that the punishment should be death, but God does not say the wages of the worst sins is death, he simply states sin.
3) Matthew 18:21-22
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Often times we are willing to forgive a person of their sins against us when they come to us the first time and say they are sorry. Here Jesus sets the president that even when a person sins time and time again that they do not become a lost cause, they can still find forgiveness.
4) Mark 2:17
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Jesus kept company with the detestable of the world. He called prostitutes to change their ways, tax collectors who cheated the populous, and he talked of going to the prisons where we would find those convicted of wrong doing. Jesus never said only minister to those of little sins. A doctor spends little time with a person who has a cold, a physician spends the most time with the sickest people.
Once we have established that God does not differentiate sin the way that man does, then we must look at the next piece of this puzzle.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
When we accept this as truth we begin to see why I tell you that you will not find one good person in heaven. All have sinned, so in the eyes of God all are equally guilty. God made us all, he gave us all free will to choose our paths and make our decisions. When we first chose to disobey God in some way, we stepped over a line that we alone could never step back over, we went from perfect in God's eyes to sinners who chose to ignore his wishes and commands.
So if the good can't get into heaven, who will we find? We will find the forgiven. You may walk down the streets of gold and see hundreds of people you knew would be there. These are people who lived the life of a good Christian, yes you knew they goofed up time to time but they were a solid person. Don't be surprised though when you walk up and see them talking to a murderer from skid row who found God in a cell and asked for forgiveness.
You see, none of us get this gift because we deserve it, we get it because Jesus died and let his blood flow over the sins of anyone who calls on his name and says I know that I am a sinner but I believe in you and want you to come in my heart and make me a better person. We only see heaven because at our trial when the gavel should come crashing down on a guilty as charged cry from the Lord's throne, Jesus steps out and says, "It's okay Dad. I already served this one's sentence."
I am so glad that I have Jesus' promise that I am going to be one of the bad people walking the streets of heaven.
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