By: Joel Ramirez
I have had several conversations with many people over the years who work hard to convince me or themselves that they don’t need “saving” because they never have been that bad. This came to light when I recently attended a gospel meeting where the preacher, to exemplify how great God’s grace is, pointed out his criminal past before becoming a Christian. When you combine these two points of view, it is easy to give credence to the thought that being saved is only for someone who has been really “bad” and that if you have been mostly “good” your whole life that you will be in good standing with God. But is that what God’s Word says? Why would Paul write to the church in Rome that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”? (Romans 3:23) It is easy for us to judge through human eyes who is good and who is bad based upon our own standard and experiences, but as Christians and someone who wants to truly please God we must put aside our own judgements and understand what it is God sees. I am reminded of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus. Here was someone who, from all indications, had lived a life according to the law given to Moses and the Israelites. Mark 10:19- “You know the commandments, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.” The rich young ruler had adhered to these laws and perhaps saw an opportunity to ensure that his thinking, like those today, of being mostly good would warrant a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us not forget how that conversation started. The man greets Jesus with the title of Good Teacher in both Mark and Luke’s account and Jesus is quick to help define what is good, not denying His own divinity. Instead, Jesus is getting the man to understand that only God is good and all else fall short when that is the standard before answering the young ruler’s question. In Matthew’s account, Jesus adds to the commandments “and YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” (Matthew 19:19) The rich young ruler is quick to reply “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” (Matthew 19:20) But he had not kept all the commandments as he is about to prove by his actions. Jesus knew the man’s heart and Mark even writes that “Jesus felt a love for him” (Mark 10:21) before answering his question. When Jesus gives him guidance on how to be complete, by selling all his possessions and giving to the poor, the man shows several flaws, the first being his greed but also his lack of love for his neighbor. Had the ruler truly loved his neighbor as he loved himself, he would have already been using his riches to tend to the poor. The young ruler had also borne false witness to himself in his own denial of his lack of love for his neighbors. Here is someone who would be ruled “good” by man’s standard and shown to be lacking by God’s standard. The young ruler went away grieving, but was it his own honest reflection of himself that made him ask Jesus the question in the first place? Man’s standard is shown by what we do, where God sees the intent in what we don’t do. In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable to “some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:” (Luke 18:9). Once again, Jesus will show what God’s standard is compared to those who had been judging themselves on their own standard. In the parable, Jesus compares the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee prays giving thanks that he does not do the things that he sees as sinful. On the other hand, the tax collector humbles himself to have an honest view of himself and “was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ (Luke 18:13) In the parable, Jesus says that the tax collector goes to his house justified, “for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14) Once again, God’s standard is shown to merciful to the humble where man’s standard exalts pride as righteousness. A clear distinction is becoming more evident. It is very easy to think of ourselves as good people and deem ourselves worthy of a place in heaven. Even those with blemished pasts justify themselves now because they have given up those things they used to do and think themselves fit for heavenly robes by their standard. There are those that try to justify themselves by incorrectly misusing Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes seven which are an abomination to Him:” They surmise that if you are not doing one of those 7 things, then you are not sinning. But Paul tells us in Romans 8:5-8 “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those where in the flesh cannot please God.” Our standard will never stand up to the honest and true standard of God. Murder or failure to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, both put us at enmity with God. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6) but we must humble ourselves and be willing to look at ourselves as God sees us. Only then, can we see that we are all sinners and only the grace of God can save us from those sins. “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17)