What if the standard for all things was perfection? Everything must be perfect. It is the standard and must be met. No excuses. If you’re not perfect, you’re not needed here.
Crazy, right?
Being perfect in all things is perhaps a standard that is best left to a very narrow field of achievement. Places like space travel and brain surgery.
There are places where perfection is applauded. The expectation for perfection is rarely met, so when it is, it’s a special moment.
In baseball, a perfect game by a pitcher is extremely rare. Twenty-seven batters faced, twenty-seven batters out. No hits, no walks, no runs, no hit batsmen. A perfect game.
Hitters in baseball can also have a perfect game. Not as rare as that of a pitcher, but getting a hit at every at-bat, three for three, four for four, you get the idea. That is a perfect game for a hitter.
The grade school student who gets a 100 on the vocabulary test understands a perfect paper.
The Olympic diver achieves perfection when a ‘ten’ is awarded from every judge.
There is perfection. It is achieved in some situations, but not often. What about life in general?
Are you perfect? Do you know someone who is?
It is probably fair to say that none of us are perfect. Most are far from it. Some will claim they’re close but they are simply delusional. You may know someone like that.
There is one situation that requires perfection. All the time. No exceptions. Nobody gets this without being perfect, and everyone will face it. It is guaranteed to happen to everybody.
Death is not escapable. We all will die. What’s next? Where does the human spirit go when the body dies?
Most will answer, Heaven. Many will expect it. Most will hope it’s so. A few will have an iron-clad guarantee.
Which one of these are you?
It’s not a trick. God has set a standard for spending eternity with Him. That standard is perfection. He is perfect, and so all those who come to live with Him must be as well.
Crazy, right?
Maybe not. What if the standard was something less? How would you know? Are you in or are you out? Is being nice a standard? Are you nice enough?
We all know people who are nice. But who’s nice enough? We know others who are nice, but we also know they have flaws, just like us.
What is so bad, horrible, wrong that it won’t ever make the cut? What sin is so awful that it bars one from Heaven, period?
Maybe murder is too much. No murderers go to Heaven What if they only shoot somebody? Nobody dies. Is that okay?
Get the point? Who is going to set the standard?
Just like you decide who gets to stay in your house, God has decided who gets to stay in His.
You only have to meet His standard. You only have to be perfect.
That’s crazy…
Not so fast. What if there was a way for anyone to meet the standard of perfection? What if all of us could be judged by God to be perfect?
That’s what God has done. It’s a simple process. It’s free.
All people are guilty. Everybody has sinned someplace along the line. Remember the original sin? A couple were told no and did it anyway.
Boom, they were out, forever. Eden was perfect. Like Heaven is perfect. They broke a rule and were out.
Mother Teresa was not perfect. Pope John Paul II was not perfect. No one is perfect. All are guilty.
'All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.'
So here is what many already know. Some have accepted it. And there are those who have chosen to ignore it.
The debt for sin, everyone’s sin, has been paid. The price for our eternal salvation was paid. The only thing left for any of us to do is accept the payment made on our behalf. It is a gift. We have to personally accept it. Your mother can’t accept it for you. You can’t accept it for your son or daughter.
It’s free, but it’s not.
You will have to give your heart to Jesus. You will have to acknowledge that He is Lord, and that He paid the debt. With the debt paid, all sin is forgiven. You become perfect because He is perfect. That’s the price of Heaven.
If that seems pretty radical, it is. But it is a great deal.
Take a moment and think about it. Think just what it all means. Someone you never met walked into the courtroom, went up to the judge, and slapped down the payment for your debt. The price of your eternal soul was paid and it only cost you the act of accepting it.
What did your benefactor do to pay your bill? He died. He was executed. Nailed to a cross. A horrible, painful, lingering death. Just for you. He died so you don’t have to.
Do you want to go to heaven when you die? That is a yes or no question. Answer yes and accept Christ as your Savior. Answer no, and don’t.
A yes gives you eternal life with God and all the goodness that goes with it.
No gives you eternal life without God and all the darkness that goes with it.
As for me, I said yes and accepted the Lord. If you do the same, I’ll see you there. We can spend all eternity together in a perfect place called Heaven.