Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

(John 14:6 NIV)

A teacher once asked the children in her Sunday School class a series of questions meant to get them thinking. 

“If I sold my house and my car, held a huge garage sale, and gave every dollar to the church, would that get me into heaven?”  “NO!” the children all answered.

“Well, what if I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy.  Would that get me into heaven?”  Again, the children’s answer was, “NO!”

The teacher asked one more question. “Then how can I get to heaven?”

From the back of the room, a five-year-old boy lifted his hand and called out with complete confidence: “You gotta be dead!”

The children in that class understood a truth that many adults haven’t yet learned: getting into heaven isn’t something we achieve by all the good works that we do.

We often hear people say things like, “I’m sure that so-and-so is in heaven because she was such a good person,” or “He’s done so many wonderful things.”  And if we’re honest, we sometimes comfort ourselves with the thought that we’ve done more good than others. We imagine a kind of heavenly scoreboard where our nicest deeds somehow outweigh our worst mistakes.

But Jesus came to make it clear that no amount of goodness can bridge the gap between imperfect people and a perfect God. Even our best efforts fall short of his holiness.

There’s only one way to get to heaven.  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

So the real question is not, “How many good things am I doing?” but, “Am I in Christ?” Am I walking with him, trusting him, and allowing his grace to shape my life?

Our relationship with Jesus Christ will be the one thing which determines our eternal destiny. And when we place our faith in him, we receive something no amount of good deeds could ever buy: the promise of life with God, both now and forever.

Prayer: Father, we confess that we often trust in our own goodness instead of your grace. Thank you for making the way to you through Jesus, not through our efforts but through his love and sacrifice. Help us to place our hope not in what we do, but in who he is. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Alan Smith