This blog will change your mind about certain things in this life. It is not intended to scare you into loving Jesus or to make you believe in something out of fear. This blog is to simply create awareness of the truth.
Throughout my life I have always heard the accepted and well-known phrase that as long as we are good people and live a life that is full of kindness and good deeds that we will go to heaven. There are many common misconceptions when it comes to this statement that I would like to share truth about.
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Are people good?
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If God is so good, why would he want us to go to hell?
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Will our good deeds alone get us into heaven?
Are people good?
This is a common misconception that even I have taken a while to wrap my head around. For my whole life I have always wanted to see the good in people and believe that deep down, people were good, when we were never “good” to begin with. While man can do good works, God is the only one who is intrinsically good. There is none whose nature is good and is perfect in all they do, but God. Only Jesus could keep the commandments perfectly which makes him both good and God. Man who is made in His image is sinful but can still DO good at times. Yes we are depraved in our nature but we are not so corrupted that we cannot do ANY good. All we have to do is give our life to Christ and follow his plan and we have the ability to do all good things through Him. We do not do good works to gain honor with Christ, it does not make God love us any more, but in Christ we are able to do good works because He is in us. So… are there any good people? The answer is no, because as fallen man we are sinful creatures. Can people do good? yes. But only God is perfectly good so only with Him can you actually do good works because set apart from Him you are only doing good works to satisfy your own flesh in some way.
Mark 7:21-23
21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
If God is so good, why would He want us to go to hell?
When it concerns sentencing people to hell, the Scriptures portray it as God’s last resort.
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
Repentance is the act of regretting sincerely the sin in your past with the goal to never do it again. It is making a decision to turn away from evil and to serve God. Each one needs to make the decision themselves; to serve God rather than sin, because God has given us freedom. Don’t be mistaken, hell is not a place that God just sends us to. There is a path that leads to heaven, but there is also a path that leads to hell; each path being very clear biblically. The path to hell is a path that is consciously chosen, long before arrival. When one consciously chooses to live discordant to God, rejecting Him and His goodness, they are choosing the outcome for their life. Even the people who are unaware of God, will still reach judgement day. God is righteous and good, and not a single person will be sent to hell or judged for something that they didn’t know was wrong. However, anyone who acts against their conscience will one day have to own up to it. (You know that feeling you get when you know you shouldn’t be doing something but you do it anyway…that’s God.)
But it’s not the intention that the fear of hell and eternal condemnation be the driving force behind our every decision. GOD DOES NOT WANT TO SCARE YOU INTO LOVING HIM! Rather, God’s patience, mercy, and love towards us should inspire us to love Him in return. Loving Jesus is one of the best things I have ever done in my life. My life has completely changed for the better. I would be missing out in life if I did not follow Christ and what He has planned for me, because His plan is way better than I could have ever imagined.
Will Our Good Deeds Alone Get Us Into Heaven?
As I said above, God does not judge us based on our good deeds, but judges us based on our heart for Him. Whether we get into heaven is not reliant on good and evil, but through grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 reads, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.” The only way to get to heaven is through Jesus.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
So is it sufficient enough for a person to just go to church on Christmas and Easter and simply say we know Jesus in order to go to heaven?
Woah. This is a question that is the hardest for me to answer because I know so many people who want to know and love the Lord, but put Him in a box.
James 2:19
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
If all that is required for salvation is mental agreement with the truth about God, then Satan and the demons can be saved, too. They know it is all true. Satan’s minions are more aware of God’s reality than most people, yet the demons are not right with God. The demons may believe some things that are true about God, but they’re certainly not saved. The rest of the chapter goes on to explain that faith without any resulting action is useless (James 2:20). The kind of faith that saves us is the kind that changes us. So if we are just agreeing that there is a God, we are not living our lives for him, thus we are not seeking eternal life in heaven with Him.
If you want to get to know somebody and be their friend, and simply just say, “I want to be your friend,” but never ask them to hangout and get to know them, then you aren’t putting effort into a relationship with that person, thus you aren’t actually friends with them. You can’t just call someone your friend if you’ve never hung out or gotten to know that person.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
So to answer your question, I will answer with this; do not focus on your acts of good deeds, but focus on your relationship with Jesus. Because your life will change in such an incredible way. You will learn how to live without anger, how to treat people with such love, how to have so much joy in life, and how to deal with pain and hurt. These are just a few things that come with having a relationship with Jesus and it is so worth it. Don’t just have a mental agreement about God, have a lifetime WITH Him by your side. You won’t regret it.
What about people who do good deeds who don’t believe in God?
Well, this gives us the impression that being genuine and charitable correlates to truth, which is incorrect. If someone is purposefully believing something that is not true and, as a result, is actively rejecting God, it would seem unfair for God to welcome this person into heaven. Goodness, then, is not enough. One also has to believe what is true.
I understand that this concept is a hard thing to hear, trust me it is hard for me too. But just because we are uncomfortable with something and don’t want to hear it, doesn’t mean it’s not true. Jesus cares so much for us that He wants us to know these things. He doesn’t say it just to scare us. But He does say it to give caution and help us to see that He sent His son to die for us so that we can receive the goodness that He has to offer. This life on earth is full of incredible opportunities with God. It was never MY plan to go on the world race, it was God’s plan. I have found my love for so many other things and I would not have known any of them if I didn’t have a relationship with Jesus. He knows me way better than I know myself. Life with Jesus is not for the sole reason of getting to heaven, but creating a heaven on Earth. Don’t hesitate, don’t wait, don’t just accept jesus because you want to go to heaven because this life on earth is so much more than that. Eternal life starts NOW 🙂
