Are You Good Enough for Heaven?

Today, I am working on managing my time a little better, taking advantage of each little nap and sleeping child.  I am starting a  new personal Bible study. I have completed several in this series, but today, I am beginning Receiving God's Goodness.

This morning before Colin left for school (and his big field trip to the Hot Rods game), I told him to be good.  One of the first things I ask my kids after we are apart is, "Were you good?"  I know my children (like me) are not perfect and we aren't always going to be good.  They may color their hands with marker at school instead of doing center work.  I may spend too much time on the computer instead of reading my Bible.  They may not share their toys and fight over them.  I may make too many trips to the candy basket to get a chocolate drop.  They may lose their tempers and hit one another. I may lose my temper and yell. 

Sometimes it is hard to be good and sometimes it is easy.

Regardless, no matter how my kids behave, I love them.  Nothing they do or could do will ever change that. They are mine. God blessed me with them.  I take pride in being their mom.  Yea, I get upset with them and discipline them, but I love them.  I'll forgive them time and again. They don't have to be good to be loved by me.

In the same way, we don't have to be good to earn God's love.  The Bible says in Romans 5:8, "But  God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Jesus didn't die for us because of our goodness. He died for us because we were are sinners. We could never be good enough to get into heaven. 

The last statement in the introduction to this week's study in Receiving God's Goodness is "Salvation isn't a matter of being good enough. It's a matter of God's goodness."

That statement is so true.  Time and again I have told you that I am not perfect (shocker, right?). If God expected me to be in order to spend eternity with Him, I'd never get there.  I try hard not to stuff my mouth with chocolate drops, but sometimes I fail.  I try hard not to lose my temper with my kids, but sometimes I fail.  I try hard not to get caught up in gossip, but sometimes I fail.  When I fail, it doesn't mean that God loves me any less.  He expects me to confess these sins to Him, to ask for forgiveness, to look to Him for the strength and wisdom of how to not fall to these sins again. 

He is teaching me how to make better grab and go choices throughout the day when I want to eat something yummy.  He is teaching me how to pick my battles with my kids (ignoring whining and complaining worked wonders over the last few days).  He has allowed me to surround myself with Christian women who are not interested in gossip and only interested in pleasing Him in our actions and words.  Are these the only areas I am weak in? Not at all, but God is helping me.

I'm not saying that we don't need to strive to be good. Please don't think that.  All I am saying is that we are going to mess up. We have to admit when we mess up and ask God to help us get better.  We are a work in progress.  God will reward us for our goodness only after we become His.

I am absolutely in love with the book of Romans in the Bible.  There are so many wonderful passages that show us God's love for us.  None of them has to do with being good enough, but they deal with God's goodness and love for us, especially when we receive His son, Jesus Christ. 

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1

"Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:24-25

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God." Romans 8:28

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:37-39

"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10


Father, I thank you for Jesus, that He came to earth to die for me.  Lord, I know that if salvation was based on my deeds, I'd never be good enough to spend eternity with you.  I thank you for those who taught me about Jesus and the path of salvation. I know in my heart that there is no other road to You, Lord.  I pray that if there is someone trying to "work their way" to you, that you would stop them in their tracks and let them see that they will never be good enough to do that.  I pray that they would see the light in Jesus and by faith, open their heart to Him. Amen.