I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. I asked a friend of mine if he thought he was going to heaven. He said “Yes, I have been a good person. I have always lived by the golden rule.” Wow, I thought. This guy thinks he is going to heaven based on what he has done for others instead of what Christ has done for him. For the record he was a nice fella but he wasn’t that good.

Unfortunately I think a lot of people feel this way. If they are basically good people and don’t have a lot of animosity towards others, then they think God will allow them into heaven. This is based on works, not faith. It is hard to reason with someone who has this kind of arrogance.

I used to think that way when I was a little girl. I didn’t see why Jesus needed to die for me. I didn’t even cuss. I was kind to everyone and stuck up for the kids who were being bullied. I remember having a talk with my mother about this and she said that even my good works were as dirty rags in comparison to the holiness of God. She got this idea from Isaiah 64:6 “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (NIV)

I think if I had bothered to confront the arrogance that this man held I would have had a fight on my hands because he truly thought he was good enough, on his own accord, to get into heaven.

As I was thinking about this this evening, I meditated on what holiness really is in relation to God.

Let’s say you have one person that you really don’t like. They have bullied you and misused you. They refuse to listen to you and shun you when you are trying to tell them how to do things better. Maybe they get angry one day and kill someone you really love. They were scum of the earth and that was an understatement. They have given you every reason to hate them. But instead of hating them you sacrifice the only son you have on a cross to reconcile them to you so that they can live with you eternally.

That is what holiness is and no one can touch that with their good works. The only way to heaven is through the blood of Jesus covering your sins.