If you ask the average person whether they believe they will go to heaven or hell, you are sure to hear this commonplace response “I’m not perfect but I believe I will go to heaven because I try my best to be a good person and live well with others.”
The spiritual DNA of man became damaged ever since Adam’s fall. As part of Adam’s race, we see where just like Adam and Eve, we continue to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We ignore the Tree that represents Life (i.e. Jesus) because we would rather eat the fruit that will make us wise in our own eyes. Satan was successful in deceiving Eve as soon as he fuelled her desire to become wise as God. Ever since then, man has fallen prey to a life of comparison and self-grandeur. Man is constantly trying to prove that they have more knowledge of good and evil than the other. Many even dare to gain a wealth of knowledge so they can compare themselves to God.
Proverbs 21:2 – Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.
Jeremiah 8:9 –The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?
1 Corinthians 3:19 – For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”
Satan will always be successful at deceiving us if we turn our gaze away from God to ourselves. Because of our fallen nature, we have an ingrained and innate desire to continually serve ourselves. We are self seeking and self righteous and because we are always seeking to be wise in our own eyes, we measure our “wisdom” against that of others continually judging and condemning others but setting ourselves free. The fruit of knowledge of good and evil will always lead us to measuring life by the standards of our own skewed morality. It will always lead us to self. It will always encourage us to produce good works based on our subjective convictions. It will convince us that all God desires of us is “good”.
What God really desires for us is everlasting life in relationship with Him. This was always His intent. Man was supposed to live by the Tree of Life and since Adam and Eve failed to do this, God in His mercy and grace presented us with a second chance through His redemptive plan. He sent His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ) to give us everlasting life.
1 John 5:11 – And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
John 3:36 – Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
We were created for God and by God to serve His interests not our own. Many of us seem to forget that there were two trees in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve could have eaten from the Tree of Life but instead they doubted God’s instruction and chose to eat of the tree that brought death (eternal separation from God) upon mankind.
Good works are not a prerequisite to everlasting life or to the heart of God. Belief in His Son is. Once you truly believe in His Son, you will believe in God’s Word. Once you believe in God’s Word, you will obey His commands and be guided by the Holy Spirit. Once you live in submission to God as His child not as His adult, your good works will follow. Good works are a result, an outcome of serving God. It is not the way in which we get God’s approval or the steps we must follow to have eternal life. If we serve a good God and seek to live our lives as representations of His image, it is obvious that we will produce good fruit.
Have a look at your motives. Are you driven to do good so that you can get an access pass to heaven or do you produce good fruit because you have remained in the vine of God?
Remember not everything good is God. Even Satan knows how to be good as he can transform himself into an angel of light. Do not be deceived by your estimation of good works! As a believer, your focus should be on imaging and serving God as His unique and purposeful vessel.
John 15:16 – You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
Colossians 1:16 – For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
