I have asked many people a simple question: “If you were to die today, are you 100% sure you will go to Heaven?” I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the answer that they think they will go to Heaven because they have done more good than bad. This answer tells me that the person I am talking to has not read their Bible very well. If they had read their Bible, they would see the same message all throughout that “good” people do not get to Heaven.
Today in Psalm 53 I read some very direct statements. “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 53:2-3). According to these verses, it doesn’t matter what good we have done as compared to the bad we have done. The fact is that all men everywhere are in the same condition. None of us will seek God without Him first seeking us!
It is funny to me that we think our idea of our good out-weighing our bad could change the mind of an omniscient God by use of our human reasoning. Nothing could be further from the truth! I imagine this comparison of our thoughts changing the mind of God by thinking of the raging waters going over Niagara Falls as compared to me with a garden hose with a kink in it, thinking I am changing the water flow. Of course, my thoughts are extremely insignificant when compared to God! Not only are they insignificant, but the pool of wisdom we have to draw from is sorely lacking!
As I read these verses this morning, it causes me to have some depressing thoughts as I consider my standing before God. It then causes me great joy, because I think about the fact that when I did not reach out to Him, He reached out to me! Even though He knows that none of us will ever seek Him out, He sent His one and only Son to reach out to us. He not only reached out to us, He became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him! An old gospel song said that “He reached way down for me.” Today I am rejoicing that the God Who knows everything about me chose to send His Son to rescue me, even when I did not realize I needed to be rescued. The good thing I can do is to stop trying to be good enough, and to receive the gift He has offered. Praise God for salvation that has come to us!