Yes I Am
When asked, most people will tell you that they are a good person. Interestingly, a recent study showed that even inmates* believe they are better than most people in matters such as morality and kindness.
When it comes to judging ourselves, we have a bad habit of falling pray to the better than average (BTA*) effect. We tend to ignore our weaknesses in order to boost ourselves above our peers. We will even use extreme cases, i.e. compare ourselves to Hitler, just so we can prove it.
So if we can’t trust ourselves to know if we’re a good person, then how can we know if we’re good enough to get to heaven? What standard did you use to answer yes?
Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about this issue because God has given us a way of finding out if we are good enough to get to heaven.
If you want to know if your hair is a mess, or if you have dirt on your face, you go to a mirror. It’s the best way to find out because, unlike a friend, the mirror won’t lie to you. In the same way, God has given us the Ten Commandments to show us just how good we really are.
Let’s look at a couple of them and see how we do.
- Have you ever told a lie? If you have, what do you call a person who tells lies?
- Have you ever stolen anything? If you have, what do you call someone who steals?
- Have you ever committed adultery? Jesus said if you look with lust at someone, you have committed adultery with that person in your heart. Have you ever lusted?
- Here’s the last one we’ll look at. Have you ever used God’s name in vain? Have you ever used His name to express disgust, or as a curse word? This is very serious. It’s called blasphemy. You’re taking the name of the God who gave you life and reducing it down to a curse word.
So how did you do with four of the Ten Commandments? If honest, most of us would say that we are a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer, and we have to face God on judgement day!
So by that standard, are you innocent or guilty of breaking God’s law? Will you go to heaven or hell?
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