Can one get to heaven by being a good man?
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…” Is 64:6.
In the Gospel of Luke 18:9–14, Jesus gave a parable of two men who went to the temple to pray; one being a Pharisee and the other a publican (tax collector). Those days the tax collectors were regarded as the worst of sinners by the Jews because they worked for the Roman government who colonised the Jews. The tax collectors also make themselves very rich by collecting more than the required taxes and pocketing the difference. The self-righteous Pharisee kept emphasizing all his good works or behaviours in his prayers like:
“God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” vv 11-12.
How did the tax collector prayed? “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” vv 13. Jesus Christ said that the tax collector who humbled himself before God went home more justified than the Pharisee who was appraising himself before God.
Salvation or going to heaven does not depend on how good or bad the person might have been in their lifetime, rather it depends on whether the person before death has reconciled with God by making Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Saviour. When the Philipian jailer asked Paul and Silas what he can do to be saved, they told him to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will be saved with his household (Acts 16:31).
Jesus said he is the way, the truth and the life, and nobody can go to God the Father except through him (John 14:6). Doing good works or living a good lifestyle are all good and necessary in addition, but they will not get us to heaven except Jesus is in them. If someone can get to heaven by being good, then Jesus Christ need not have died on the cross. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Ro 3:23. This is the reason God sent His Only Son Jesus Christ to pay the penalty of death for the sin of mankind. “For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Ro 6:23.
Prayer:
“Heavenly Father, deliver us from all self righteousness; help us to enter by faith into the salvation you’ve brought to us through Jesus Christ your only Son, who took our place on the cross of Calvary, in the name of Jesus. Amen”
#heaven #salvation #righteousness
