What if there was only one rule you had to keep, in order for everyone to be happy and life to be great. Think about it kids, your parents only have one rule. Students just one rule – no dating until your 20! On your job – just one rule. In your home, just one rule. You would be asking, ''Where do I sign up?'' In my last post, I shared how I thought I was really good at tennis back in my younger years only to be proven that was not the case. But what about my life? I mean, at one time or another we think, "I'm just as good as him or her." It's only natural to compare ourselves to others when it comes to morality, looks, and life in general. The problem in that, is that we are using the wrong measuring stick to compare ourselves to. If there were only one rule I had to keep to be good...
There was a time when life was like this. Life was simple. God had one commandment and he didn't bother to etch it in stone because everyone had it committed to memory. The option was to obey it or disobey it. When Adam and Eve broke that rule, life became unfair. We live in a world that is unfair. Life is unfair.
Our thought is, good people should get good things. The fact is that is not the way it happens. The thought is the more good we do, the better chance I have to get ahead, to get the job I want, … to get to heaven. Think about it, who defines''good?'' If it is God, he didn't do a good job at all of telling us how much good is enough to get to heaven. Is 10% of our life enough, 50%, 90%?
The issue is not about being good or if life is fair or not.
How Good is good enough?
As good as you are, you really aren't sure that you're good enough. Who set's the standard for good? Our education system? Our government – laws? Our parents? Our spouses? The fact of the matter is you and I are not as good as we think. Yeah, you can help every old lady across the street and get every cat down from the tree, but that doesn't make you a good person. As a matter of fact, you and I stink at trying to be good. It will never happen. I really don't like people to refer to me as a "good person." Sure, I understand what they are trying to say with that statement, but am I really good? Compared to whom and why? The best way to grasp what has shaped my thoughts on this are the words of scripture in Romans 3:10-12,
As the Scriptures say,“No one is good—no one in all the world is innocent. No one has ever really followed God’s paths or even truly wanted to. Every one has turned away; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one."
Three mistakes we make in this area
Mistake #1: What I have is probably enough to have a right relationship with God.
Mistake #2: If what I have isn't enough, I can do more to earn my way into heaven.
Mistake #3: I can trust Jesus with part of my life and still be completely right with God.
It all comes down to a battle of wills: What do I want vs. what does God want?
How do you know if you've surrendered everything to Jesus Christ? You'll only know by how you react when He asks for it.
