Falling Short

If you’ve never watched an episode of The Twilight Zone, you…well, you’ve probably slept better than people who have. But there was one particular episode that I always liked the best. In “The Hunt,” (S03E19) an old man named Mr. Simpson and his dog Rip go off one evening to hunt for raccoons. Rip dives into some water after one of the critters, and the old man jumps in after him. They both wake up the next morning next to the river. Spoiler Alert:  You soon learn that both actually drowned, and Mr. Simpson finds that his wife is sadly planning his funeral. Unable to communicate with her, the pastor, or the men digging his grave, Simpson isn’t sure what to do or where to go, but he knows that wherever he ends up, his faithful dog Rip will be with him. The two of them begin traveling down a road until they meet a man at a gate who offers to let the old man through into eternity–but not Rip, whom he said would go to a special afterlife for dogs up the road. Simpson refuses to go where his beloved Rip can’t, and they keep walking. When they stop to rest, they are met by another man. He informs the elderly Simpson that the first stop he made was actually at the gate to Hell. The gatekeeper there had not allowed Rip in because he would have smelled the brimstone and warned Mr. Simpson about it, as if he could escape once he was on his way in. As the angel leads the two toward Heaven, he says with a chuckle, “You see, Mr. Simpson, a man, well, he’ll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can’t fool a dog!”

“I’m a good person”

It’s a great story. Not theologically correct, but nice. Although I do believe they were on to something with the line that people “walk right into Hell with both eyes open.” These days, I would venture to say that a majority of people believe they are going to Heaven – if they believe such a place even exists. I enjoy watching videos of Ray Comfort when he speaks to and questions random people on the street about their eternal destination. Whenever someone tells him they will go to Heaven because they are a good person (the typical response), he asks them a series of questions about things they may have done in their life, such as: Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever taken something that didn’t belong to you, regardless of its value? Have you ever looked at another person with lust in your heart? When people answer “yes” to these questions (also the typical response), he, in the kindest way possible, says something akin to, “So you’ve told me you’re a liar, a thief, and a fornicator.” No, really; he is quite loving about it. In fact, it is in showing that person that they have not lived up to the standards of a holy God (and never could on their own) that he can help them see their need for a Savior. They may be what we call “good,” but they are not good enough in and of themselves to get into Heaven. If they were, they wouldn’t need Jesus.

God’s Perfect Way

Because we can’t stand before God in our sin, He in His love for us, provided a way for us. Only by believing in and accepting His Son Jesus Christ are we able to enter into Heaven. Because our sinful, human nature could never stand before God, the shed blood of Jesus covers us and makes us righteous before Him when we accept Him as our Savior. There is no other way. In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I once heard someone say there can’t possibly be just one way to Heaven, but I’m not sure He could have made it any clearer than He did. It doesn’t matter what we say or want to believe is true; it matters what He has made clear in His Word, the Bible. Being “good” and doing nice things is great, but we can’t rely on them to get us into Heaven. If we could, then we would be getting there on our works. And if we had to work our way to Heaven, we humans would be comparing everything we did to get there. “I gave $100.” “Yeah, well, I gave $1,000!” “Well, I worked twenty hours on that project. Where were you?” You get the idea. We would be arguing over who deserved to be in Heaven more, just as the disciples argued over who deserved to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus. Besides, “…all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6). Salvation is not what we do; it is what Jesus has already done, Him and Him alone. It is a free gift: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Yours for the Taking

While the gift of salvation is free to all who believe, it is not simply handed out to every person. Oh, salvation is available to everyone, but not everyone accepts it. God gave us free will, which means we can choose to accept Him or not. Love isn’t really love if it is forced, and He never forces us to follow Him. I have heard people ask the question, “Why would God send people to Hell?” The answer is…He doesn’t. Each human makes that choice for themselves. Now, I could (but won’t) write a whole other post about the age of accountability for each person (I don’t know what that is.) and about those who are incapable of making the choice for salvation due to age (babies and very young children) or those who do not possess the cognitive ability to understand it. I will, however, say that I believe they also go to Heaven. “But, they might not choose that for themselves!” you may say. All I can tell you is that when my children were young and unable to understand the consequences for things they may want to do or not do, I made the decision that was best for them. Now that they are older, they can make decisions for themselves. If they were still not able to do so, then I would still be making decisions for them for their good. Matthew 7:11 says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” You may disagree, and that’s okay. Just remember that when King David’s infant son died, he said, “…Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23) David knew his son had gone to be with God and that one day, he would, as well.

They Were Good, But…

What got me started on this topic of “Falling Short” was reading in 2 Kings, where so many of Israel’s kings were described as doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. Most of them, in fact. But there were some who “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” What amazed me is that even those who were described as doing what was right still managed to fall short when it came to taking care of everything that was wrong in God’s eyes. For instance, “[Azariah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord…The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there” (2 Kings 15:3–4). Even Amaziah, father of Azariah is described as a good king, but he still fell short. “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father David had done. In everything he followed the example of his father Joash. The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there” (2 Kings 14:3–4). They did great things for the Lord, but they didn’t get it all right. Just like us, they fell short of God’s perfection.

This was not the subject I planned to write about for my first blog post, but maybe it is good that I start out by sharing my beliefs from the get-go so you know what to expect if you decide to stick around:

1. Jesus is the Son of God.
2. Jesus was born of a virgin.
3. Jesus was sinless.
4. Jesus was crucified [taking all our sin on Himself and paying the price of sin (death) for us].
5. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day (defeating death).
6. Jesus ascended into Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father.

I don’t know your beliefs about Heaven or God or Jesus. Maybe they completely differ from mine. Maybe you have had a bad experience at a church or with religious people (Jesus did too).  Maybe you’re an atheist. Or maybe you’ve never really given it much thought. I hope you will. At least consider these questions:

If you died today, where would you go?

If Jesus returned for His children right now, would you go with Him or be left behind to face the Tribulation?

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8