Am I Good Enough?

A lot of people feel like they’re not good enough to go to Heaven. It’s a pretty daunting thought, and can leave you feeling insecure, unsure and can make things like death seem really scary. As Christians, we have assurances given to us by God in the Bible that show us that we don’t need to be insecure about Heaven and whether or not we will be going there. Lets take a look at some of those assurances.

The first thing to consider is that no one is good enough to go to Heaven. Romans 3:23 tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That doesn’t sound like much of an assurance, but lets think it through. If no one can be good enough to earn his or her way into Heaven (Ephesians 2:8-9) then our salvation (and therefore out way into Heaven) has to come from something else. So, if we don’t earn our salvation by being good, then where does it come from? Well, this one is pretty easy to answer. Let’s look at the Bible.

Jonah 2:9 says “But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD." This verse is taken from a prayer Jonah prayed while he was inside the fish (see the book of Jonah if you don’t already know the story). Notice what the end of the verse says? “Salvation comes from the Lord.” Alright that’s all well and good, but that’s just one verse and Jonah was inside a fish at the time, maybe he was just looking to be saved from his unpleasant situation. Let’s look further.

In Acts 4:10-12 we find another reference to God, and more specifically Jesus being the way to salvation:

“10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.’
12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by
which we must be saved."

Notice verse 10 talks about the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, then further down, verse 12 says that there is no other name that we can be saved by (keep in mind that being saved is what allows us to go to Heaven). Jesus comments on this also, in John 14:6 we find “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

So now we’ve established that 1) No one is good enough to get himself or herself into Heaven and 2) Jesus is our way to Heaven. Our next question is what are we supposed to do about this? If Jesus is our way into Heaven, what do we have to do? Is there anything we should be doing? Lets go back to the Bible.

Romans 10 has several interesting things to say, particularly in verses 9-13:

9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture
says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

But hang on, doesn’t that look like it’s by our own actions (confessing with our mouths and believing in our hearts) that’s what’s getting us our salvation here? But that doesn’t add up with what we read in Ephesians earlier. So what’s going on here? Lets jump on over to 1 Corinthians 12 for an answer. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says “Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.” That seems to clear that issue up, although you might be thinking “But I can say that, and I’m not a Christian. What’s up with that?” Well, words can be empty. Just because you say something doesn’t mean it’s true. You can lie about anything to anyone, even yourself. Except that God is still going to know whether or not you are telling the truth, whether or not you’re really believing in your heart, and that’s something only you and God will know.

Now, I’m not saying that because our actions don’t impact on our salvation we can go ahead and do whatever we like and then clear it up with Jesus later. This is another issue that should be addressed separately (but check out 1 Corinthians 10 23-31 and 1 Corinthians 6:12-18 as a place to get started). But what I hope you can see is that our actions aren’t what earn us our place in Heaven. That comes from the work of the Spirit in us that allows us to believe (1 Corinthians 12:3).

In summary, our actions aren’t what save us (Ephesians 2:9-10), our salvation comes from Jesus (Jonah 2:9, Acts 4:10-12) and what we are required to do is confess that Jesus is Lord, and to truly believe this in our hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit (Romans 10:9). Salvation is what gets us into Heaven.

All verses are taken from the New International Version (NIV)