“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”  Romans 3:20

Many people believe that they will go to heaven because they’re generally good enough to earn God’s approval. They believe that basically they live a good life and do enough good deeds for God to let them in. While they aren’t perfect, they’re as good as the next guy and when God sees how they compare they believe they’re sure to get in as one of the good guys. I call this the doctrine of “Relative Goodness” or the idea that, on the whole, you can be good enough to be accepted by God.

But that’s not what the Bible teaches. Look again at the verse above. It says “no one will be declared righteous (or good enough) in God’s sight by the works of the law.” The Bible teaches that no one is good enough to earn a place with God, but that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Simply put, none of us lives up to God’s standards one hundred percent. Not one of us is good enough. We can see this by looking at just the Ten Commandments. If we’re honest we’ll admit we’ve broken most of them. So what are we to do? Our only hope is to turn to God for forgiveness, and fortunately, God has provided it. God grants us righteousness, or right standing with him through Jesus’ sacrificial death in payment for our sins, and “this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Romans 3:22a)

In the end you’ll either stand before God on the basis of what you’ve done (your relative goodness) or on the basis of what he’s done for you (his righteousness)—it’s your choice.

How will you stand before God? I’m standing on what he’s done for me.