There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 16:25
We can do it without realising it, can't we? We can assume that IF there is a God, and if I do my best to live a decent life in this world, then surely I'll qualify for heaven when my time is up. But of course, how can we know if we're living a decent enough life in
this world to find ourselves 'acceptable' to a Holy God...
Well, I guess most of us measure our lives against that of others, often unconsciously. And we often reach the conclusion that although we're not so good as some we're certainly not so bad as most. And therefore, on balance, I can go through life confident of my final destiny. But the following story shows just how foolish it is to compare, or measure our life against that of someone else...
His name was William, but everyone knew him as 'Wullie' in the Scottish
shipyard where he worked. In fact he'd worked there a very long time, like his father
before him, as was often the custom in bygone days.
He'd done all kinds of jobs over the years but one thing he'd always been
responsible for was sounding the hooter every day to signal the end of
each shift. And down through the years he'd walked the same route to work every day,
a journey which took him past a certain jeweller's shop which
lay close to the shipyard.
He was a real creature of habit was Wullie and each day he'd
set his old, rather temperamental, watch by the large clock hanging outside
this shop. After all, he did want to make sure that he sounded his hooter at the
correct time each day.
Well, the day finally came for his retirement and he thought he'd go
into the shop to thank the old shopkeeper for this hitherto unknown
'service' his clock had provided for such a long time.
But to his surprise the jeweller looked at him solemnly and said, 'Oh no,
over all these years I've been setting my clock by your hooter!'
This story illustrates very clearly the folly in measuring, comparing or 'setting' our lives by those around us. According to the Bible not one of us will prove 'good enough' in the sight of God on the Day of Judgment. In His sight...
...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;...
Isaiah 64:6
...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
...and the only remedy is found in the Cross of Calvary where Christ Jesus, the only One ever to have lived a perfect life, died taking the punishment we deserve.The Bible also goes on to tell us that unless we've received God's pardon through the risen Christ then we're set to face judgement and condemnation.So if you're not already a follower of Jesus, NOW is always to right time to 'get right' with Him.
