Earning God's favor

When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy (Titus 3:4-5).

Have you ever heard of a do-it-yourself funeral? Some time ago, a 79-year-old newspaperman arranged such an event in Denver. The lips on the corpse in the casket were motionless on the day of his funeral, but the voice of the deceased man filled the air of the funeral home. Before his death he had recorded the message he wanted the people to hear at his funeral.

That Denver newspaperman may have been the first person ever to arrange a do-it-yourself funeral, but he was not the first to have a do-it-yourself religion. Throughout history, countless people have made only do-it-yourself preparations for their arrival in the afterlife. The sermon that they want to be preached at their funeral could probably be entitled "What a Good Boy Am I!" They took pride in their accomplishments and figured that they had certainly earned a place in Paradise.

The problem? God is not impressed by our accomplishments. The prophet Isaiah says all our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). He said this because our efforts at doing good are always undercut by our inherent sinfulness. Sometimes our good deeds are done for the wrong reasons—to try and impress someone, or as an investment for calling in a future favor. Sometimes our good deeds are flawed by our inability to do a perfect job; how often are the things that you purchase completely free of any kind of flaw? And sometimes our good deeds are misguided; we don’t fully think out the consequences of our actions, and end up hurting or offending someone unintentionally. No, God has no reason to be impressed by our attempts to do good.

Thankfully, our ability to do good is not the criteria that God uses in deciding who to welcome into Paradise. In Titus we read he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. We are not saved by our actions; we only receive heaven by God’s willingness to forgive us for messing up our lives and the lives of others. When we go to Jesus with sorrow in our hearts and beg Him to forgive us, He is merciful to us, taking away the guilt of our sins through the blood He shed for us on the cross. We cannot enter heaven based on what we have done; we are welcomed into paradise based only on what Jesus has done for us.