The Good News

I was listening to the radio today and one of the news stories was on religious believes in America. Appearantly over 50% of evangelical Christians believe that "good" people of other faiths can go to heaven. That is a lot of misinformed people. You can read the whole article here.

This doesn't even make sense to me. Why would you have faith or specific religious beliefs if you can have eternal life in heaven by just being a good person? What constitutes being a "good" person. The article talks about giving blood, allowing a stranger to cut in line, help someone find a job and giving directions to a stranger. If thats all it takes, I'm doing pretty good in life- except I can't give blood because I'm anemic. But there are times I am in a hurry and don't let that old lady go in front of me at SuperWalmart even though she only has 3 items and I have a cart full. Do I lose my salvation on those days?

So here is the truth. Sometimes I do really good things, but more often I do bad things. I'm selfish, I gossip, I do things I know I shouldn't..etc. James 2:10 says, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking all of it." It only takes one sin to seperate us from God. In God's eyes all sin are the same- gossiping and murder. Although we hold them to different standards- they aren't. And we are all in the same situation- sinful, broken and distant from God. Romans 3:10 states: There is none righteous not even one. But here is the good news. God made it possible for man to have a restored relationship with him- to spend eternity in heaven. And its not about what we've done- but what has been done for us. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ- but the reality is that his birth is irrevelant unless you know the big picture. Jesus Christ left his glory in heaven to walk with man. Born fully man and fully God he was tempted in every way to do "bad" stuff. Steal, lie, cheat, hurt others, etc but he resisted all temptation and lived his life perfectly. He went on to serve as the ultimate sacrifice- the blameless Lamb. Overcoming death, the consquence of sin, and taking the punishment that we all deserve. We can't possibly be good enough, therefore we must rely fully on Christ for our salvation. When I die and I stand before the Lord and he asks me why he should let me into heaven. I will not say because I've been a good and deserve it because I haven't- instead I will say the consquences of my sins have been paid for by Jesus. I have no fear of death only the hope of the good news.