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1Lots of people believe: “As long as you are good, you can go to heaven.” Sorry, but that just isn’t true.

Have you ever wondered what people mean by good? We all have different ideas of what makes someone ‘good’ or ‘bad’—so already we have a problem. The fact is that none of us are perfect, and we all have different things that we would think stop us from being ‘good’. Often we don’t even realise our own failings, but are quick to see the wrong things in others. So—for example—I might think it’s OK for me to lie, but don’t think that you should lie to me. I might think I’m doing OK, but that you aren’t . . . but I’m dead wrong.

The reality is that none of us are good. Every single thing we do will fail in someone’s eyes, even if it’s not our own. But all of us fall short of the perfect standard that God Himself sets. Even one wrong thing means we’re no longer ‘good’ in His eyes.

The wrong things we do are called “sin” in the Bible. We all do selfish things—and they don’t please God. So none of us are good people or ‘good enough’ to go to heaven by ourselves. But the fantastic news is that God knew we wouldn’t be able to live perfect lives on our own. Our best could never be ‘good’ enough. So he had a plan to take our sins away from us by passing them to someone else who would take the hit. He sent His one and only Son (Jesus) to this earth to die on the cross and make us perfect to God again. It is because of Jesus death on the cross, which pays for all our sins, that we are able to get into heaven when we die, not because of how ‘good’ we are.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

— Kevin, an Our Daily Bread reader

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