Trying to make a little fun out of the job, we raked as many leaves as we could into one pile, right at the bottom of a steep hill. We planned on jumping off the deck or off the hill into the leaves.
Once I thought we had a sufficiently large pile, I went up to the top, got about a 40′ running start, and made the jump.It turns out that leaves do not make as soft a landing as I thought. I went right through them. What made it worse was that I expected them to cushion me, so I was not prepared to slam into the ground. I crawled away with two sprained ankles, and a painful lesson on thinking before I act.
Every one of us will one day make the leap into eternity, and face the impartial judgment of a holy God. Hebrews 9:27
Millions of people make the mistake of spending all kinds of time, resources, and energy piling all sorts of good works together, hoping that they will be sufficient to soften that judgment.
Unfortunately, good deeds will do about as much to save people from accountability for their sins as a fragile pile of leaves did to break my fall. Believe it or not, their faith in their good works is actually working against them, much like my faith in that pile of leaves actually worked against me, since because of my faith, I let down my defenses.
When someone thinks they have accumulated enough good works to appease God, they won’t bother to thirst for the righteousness that is found alone in Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” That means that all of your good works are doing nothing if you don’t believe what God has said. If you are rejecting the record God has given of His Son, then you can’t expect Him to be pleased with any other area of your life. Wow.
God has provided a way of salvation from judgment, and it is through the blood of the cross, where the Lord Jesus Christ gave his life in place of yours. You can’t earn it with good works. You receive it by faith. It’s free!
Ephesians 2:10 says “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.”
Cool stuff! That means you are no better than me and I am no better than you. We have nothing in Christ that we did not receive.
Today, compel others to come to Christ the same way one poor beggar tells another where to find food.
Don’t let them face the judgement of God on their own. Only Jesus can save them from that horrific fall.