Where are the good people???

So what will it take to be granted into the Kingdom?? You could ask 100 people and more than likely find a variety of different answers, but most would probably lean in the direction of...do good here and you'll be fine there. That certainly sounds like a good idea...but that's all it is, a good idea. After all, just how good is good enough and what would our goodness be judged by? There has got to be a standard...right? Certainly my goodness will not be judged according to the goodness of the man who has given millions to hopeless AIDS victims in Africa...surely the goodness of the pedophile will not be measured against the goodness of the mass murderer. So how good is good enough. Better yet, if we are judged by goodness then just how good are we??? Many people would be offended by the challenge of their goodness, so I'll not offend anyone just yet and stay focused on me. Here is how good I am: I'm a liar...a thief...a murder....adulterer...blasphemer of God...and that's just a few. I have told many lies, stolen many things and in some aspects I stole time, I have murdered many with anger and hate in my heart and mind, cursed God when things did not go my way, and how could I forget that I have been an adulterer outwardly in the past, with potential in the future to be an adulterer in my heart through thoughts...so am I good enough to go to Heaven? Well if I put it that way, then no. I stand with the murderers, the pornographers, the thieves, the liars, and every other person who has shaken their fist at God. So where do I belong? Do I even dare to say the word? I deserve the judgement of God and the wrath that is due for my crimes.

Some look at me with amazement when I say these things about myself. It worries me that they do. I described myself just as God has described me...oh and here comes the offensive part...its how He has described you also. Yeah...everything I have just said about myself, you have some, if not all ownership in also. So according to the worlds basis of entrance into Heaven or Hell, we are all heading for Hell. There is no hope. We are lost, depraved, sick, twisted, and hell-bent people that shake our fist at God in every action we take.....So what does it take to get to Heaven??

"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead."
Acts 17:30-31

To answer the question, if we want to see Heaven we must be righteous. And we will judged by Him...who is Him? A man of perfect obedience, leading a sinless life, pure in heart, and most importantly fully God. We will judged by Him, Jesus the Christ. So how can we measure to His goodness? Only by recieving His goodness....2nd Corinthians 5:21 states that (paraphrase) He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we may become the righteoussness of God through Him.

So basically what we have here is Christ taking our filthiness and we are given His goodness. We are declared right in the sight of God. We stand against the measure and He fills our nothingness and our cups run over with His goodness. This sounds far-fetched, it sounds kinda lunatic, but of course it should if you don't believe. I don't expect you to believe what I say...but what I say is truth. Unless you have been born again (John 3) and became a new creation in Christ (2nd Cor. 5) then your goodness will get you nowhere. Good men go to hell. Their works mean nothing in world that will fall. I can give a hungry kid food, but what is the point if we both are gonna go to hell anyway. For that matter, I can create clean drinking wells in Africa, but if I don't preach Christ then a bunch of Africans will go to hell with water dripping from their chins.

So to wrap this up I am just gonna say a couple things...if you don't have Christ in your life, consider what I have said. It's nothing scholarly, but take a look at yourself, your motives, your desires. Could you stand beside God and be judged worthy? If you say yes, then take another look at yourself. You have nothing, you are nothing, and you will never gain. Christ is the only hope you have and the only person that matters. Consider what I have said, I plead....

Now, if you are a believer...do you see yourself in the light of your worthlessness? Do you really? Do you truly understand what you have been saved from? Don't think for a moment that you have anything good in you that is of yourself. It is only from Him who died and was ressurected that there is anything good in you at all. It is only by Him that you can lift your eyes. Remember this, take it to heart. Let those that are lost see you in light of the mercy that God has granted you. Humble yourself in the sight of others and in worship of the One who saves. Serve Him with your life, its His anyway. You have nothing, but Him and that is all you need, give up the rest.





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