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How good do you have to be to be good enough and what do you have to do to be good enough?

Well … the good news is that there is a “good enough” test! It is called the Ten Commandments. These commandments are found in the Bible, so let’s look at a few of them and see if you are good enough to pass the test.

• Have you ever lied? Okay, I know, who hasn’t? But even just one lie makes you a liar and that is one X on the good enough test.

Let’s continue to the next question.

• Have you ever stolen, even a cookie or a 
pencil? Just stealing one thing makes you a thief and that is not good! Now you have another X on your good enough list!

• Have you ever gotten angry? The Bible tells us in Matthew 5:21-22 that getting angry demonstrates your sinful heart as clearly as murder! That means if you have ever gotten angry, even once, you are as guilty before God as a murderer. That’s another X on the good enough list.

Oh no! That’s REALLY BAD news!!!

We have only made it through three of the Ten Commandments and James 2:10 tells us:

“Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

This means that if you have broken even one of the Ten Commandments, you are as guilty as if you had broken ALL TEN!

Not only does this mean we are not good enough, but evaluating ourselves against God’s law reveals that we are guilty of so much: unfaithfulness to God, idolatry, blasphemy, negligence, dishonor, murderer, adultery, theft, lying, and covetousness!

What are we going to do?

Not only are we not good enough, we are actually really, really bad. We have fallen far short of God’s standard. To make matters worse, we have to stand before God, the Judge of the world, and He will judge us based on these Ten Commandments. Habakkuk 1:13 says of God:

“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.”

Someday, we will have to stand before a perfectly holy God. What will that day look like for us?

A completely just and holy Judge cannot by any means let us off the hook. We are very guilty of breaking His perfect law. Justice must be served because we are guilty. So what must be done? Romans 6:23 says:

“The wages of sin is death …”

Because of our sin, we deserve death and eternal separation from God. Is there any hope for us?

There is good news!

Romans 6:23 doesn’t stop there. Let me finish the verse:

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

God loved us so much that He sent His very own Son to pay the price for our sins! Because Jesus was God and perfectly holy, He could pay our debt to God. 1 John 4:10 says:

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Imagine it like this: there are two mountains and in between is a bottomless gap. On the one mountain is us, all of humanity, and on the other is God. Jesus left God’s mountain and came to ours. He lived a perfect life. Then He died on a cross for the sins of the world. Three days later, God raised Him from the grave. Then Jesus returned to God, becoming the bridge between us and God.

That is what Jesus did for us!

He has taken our punishment. But like any other bridge, just knowing it is there doesn’t fix the problem. You must walk across the bridge. Jesus has taken your punishment, but you must accept the offer.

What must you do to accept the offer?

First, you must admit to God that you are a sinner who deserves death and then confess your sins to Him. 1 John 1:9 says:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Next you must believe that Jesus died on a cross to pay for your sin and was raised from the dead. Trust Him to rescue you from sin and accept Him as Lord of your life. Romans 10:9-10 says that:

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Call out to God and ask Him to save you today!

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

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