We Don't Deserve

If there’s anything the Bible teaches, one of the most most important is that there’s nothing we can do to earn our way to Heaven. If we worked our whole lives in an orphanage, spent every last dime of our wages to feed the poor, prayed each and every day (all day) for widow and the sick, it wouldn’t be enough to get into Heaven. If someone could earn their way, some would inevitably brag that they got there by being better than someone else. But we can’t earn it. Only Jesus can put us there. Here’s a joke you’ve probably heard. A man dies and finds himself at the Pearly Gates. Saint Peter tells him it takes a thousand points to get past. “Tell me what you’ve done to get points.” “I went to church every Sunday, and only missed when I was sick.” “That’ll get you five points.” The man thinks to himself, “Five points? For going to church?” He tries another tack. “I loved my wife and stayed true to her for fifty years of marriage.” Saint Peter says, “Wow, that’s impressive. That’ll get you twenty points.” The man plants his fists on his hips. “At this rate I’ll only get in by the grace of God!” Saint Peter says, “Grace of God. One thousand points. You may enter.” Using that joke as an example, if it require a billion points and those two things the man claimed were worth a billionth of a point, it’s still too much “earning.” ONLY by the grace of God will we ever get to Heaven, and ONLY because Jesus died for us. Jesus paid those billion points so you don’t have to spend an eternity in Hell. That makes Him worthy of our love and devotion. That’s all He asks.