There are some people in the world who just seem to be born with their act together.
They are self-confident, disciplined, talented, hard-working, ambitious and successful. They live a moral, respectable life and make a positive contribution to society.
They create businesses or provide high-demand professional services. They volunteer in their communities and take care of their families. The world is a better place because they live in it.
But prosperous, successful people have one incredible difficulty to overcome if they want to enter the Kingdom of God – they have to forsake the pride of their self-reliance.
If you are a successful Type-A go-getter, it is easy to fall into the trap of self-justification. It is tempting to think that you have earned your way into God’s good graces. You might convince yourself that you have made it on your own and you don’t need anything from God.
That is a very dangerous state of mind.
Jesus once told a parable about a rich man who had just reaped an abundant harvest from his fields and was congratulating himself for his great success.
“A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing – he couldn’t get everything in. He thought about his problem, and finally exclaimed, ‘I know – I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones! Then I’ll have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Wine, women and song for you!”’
“But God said to him, ‘Fool, Tonight you die. Then who will get it all?’
“Yes, every man is a fool who gets rich on earth but not in heaven.”
(Luke 12:16-21, Living)
Michael Bloomberg is one of the richest men in the world. In the past decade he has devoted much of his time and money to various political crusades. He is so passionately convinced of the righteousness of his pursuits that he has publicly declared himself ready to march into heaven on the merits of his liberal political activities.
A story in the New York Times on April 15, 2014 reports:
Mr. Bloomberg was introspective as he spoke, and seemed both restless and wistful. When he sat down for the interview, it was a few days before his 50th college reunion. His mortality has started dawning on him, at 72. And he admitted he was a bit taken aback by how many of his former classmates had been appearing in the “in memoriam” pages of his school newsletter.
But if he senses that he may not have as much time left as he would like, he has little doubt about what would await him at a Judgment Day. Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smoking cessation, he said with a grin: “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.
What could possibly be more arrogant than to declare that you have earned your way into heaven?
Few people are as openly prideful as Michael Bloomberg, yet his self-satisfied, egotistical attitude is pervasive in our society. How many of us justify ourselves by our own standards? How many of us foolishly believe that we are moral enough to please God?
You might live a decent life. You may be a fine citizen. You may support numerous charitable organizations and donate your time to helping those who are less fortunate than yourself. You might love your family, and help out your neighbors. You might be the nicest person in town.
None of those things will save your soul.
The fact is, no one is so good that they do not need God’s mercy. The Bible says that ALL of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s standards. None of us will ever get into heaven on merit.
Actually, the simple fact that you believe you are good enough for heaven reveals that you are guilty of that most awful sin of all: Pride. This is the worst sin because it is the root of all the others. Pride is the sin that caused Satan to be cast out of heaven. Pride is what causes us to believe we can make it on our own without God.
If you are intelligent, healthy, talented, hard-working and successful, who is responsible for that? Sure, you have done your part and effectively utilized your assets. But where did those assets originate?
Isn’t your intellect a gift from God? Wasn’t it God who blessed you with good health and a strong body? Aren’t your talents a gift from your Creator? And wasn’t it God who destined you to be born into circumstances where you were free to prosper?
Every accomplishment in your life came about because you utilized the gifts that God freely bestowed upon you. So what do you have to be so proud about?
It is possible to live a moral, successful life, and yet still miss the most important aspect of your existence: your relationship with the God who created you. It is a humbling experience to kneel before God and admit that you need his mercy. Some people are just too proud to do it.
Yet there is no entry into the Kingdom of Heaven without God’s forgiveness…and there is no forgiveness from God until there is first repentance from you.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14, NIV)
The only way to walk humbly with God is to pay attention to his instructions. The Lord has decreed that there is only one path to eternal life: Surrender your heart to Jesus Christ and humbly ask for his forgiveness.
Then the greatest miracle of your life will occur – God himself will come to live inside you, and he will adopt you as his child forever. You will be redeemed and forgiven. You will be born again as a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven
If you have not yet humbled yourself before God like this, right now would be an excellent time to take care of some eternal business.
