Is being a good person enough to get me into heaven?

Like a lot of people, I used to believe that if heaven existed, I was going to make it there because I was a good person.

I wasn’t a killer, I only told white lies, I tried my best to be polite and kind to people, would give my spare change to homeless people and I even occasionally attended church. 

In my head, this was more than enough to get me through those pearly gates. Except... it isn't.

What is ‘good’ anyway?

A big problem with the belief that ‘being good’ is enough to save you is the fact that it’s down for personal interpretation. For example, how exactly do you define a good person? Is it anyone who doesn’t commit a serious crime? Is a liar a good person? What about the cheating husband? Or the jealous friend? Are they good? Or maybe the bar is higher? Maybe being good also means volunteering at the homeless shelter once a week. Or maybe it should be three times a week? How do we know how high the bar is set and how can we know if we made the cut? Do some good deeds carry more weight than others? Where do we draw the line?

We need a standard. 

Is being good enough to get me into heaven?

The eternal standard of good and evil is defined by God. Since God is perfect and eternal, His definition remains the same regardless of the passing of time.

& by God's standards, our good works are “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).

The problem is that no matter how many good things we do, they don't eliminate our sins or make us righteous. We still remain sinners, unable to enter the kingdom of God. In short, even the best person among us falls short of what God expects.

So who can save me?

'Good' is not good enough for God. This is because God's standard is sinless perfection and no one has ever met that standard, except Jesus. 

So the only way for us to truly be saved and enter heaven is by putting our faith in Jesus, not our works. It can’t be earned by us. The bible is so clear that there is no other way (John 14:6). If there were, then Jesus would have died for nothing. 

“For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift – not from works so that no one can boast.” - Ephesians 2:8 

So whilst good works have their place in the life of the Christian, salvation is not one of them. Jesus Christ finished the work of salvation on the cross and we can be saved only by trusting in His complete work.

“There is no way that a good person will ever make it to heaven on their own, but only bad people forgiven by a very good God.”

If you’ve lived with the heavy burden of trying to be good enough to earn God's love and get into heaven, let me invite you to lay that burden down today. It’s a burden that you don’t have to carry. Trust in Jesus instead. Please message us if you’d like to give your life to Christ today.

Blog by Amanda Chenai

Femelle Soul Founder, Marketer by day, blogger by night. Lover of God, travelling, food, and a good book.

Living for the one who died for me!