Healthy people don’t need doctors. That’s what Jesus said. The Pharisees thought they were absolutely great and godly, and Jesus let them think that and added that’s why he’s going to the “sinners,” the tax collectors and prostitutes, because those people knew they weren’t godly or righteous.

Are you a good person? I used to think I was. After all, I never committed adultery, never murdered anyone. White lies, maybe, but come on, we all do it, it doesn’t hurt anyone. Never stole anything… big.
Over time, however, I came to realize how bad I was. Before I continue, let’s get to the actual test. These are some of the ten commandments. If you are not a born-again Christian and continuously growing in holiness, you are most likely still an enemy of God and He will judge you by these when you die.

Answer these questions honestly. After all, no one is listening or testing you on these, so you’d only be lying to yourself. How would you do? My answers are in brackets after the question.

• Was anything ever more important to you than God? [Yep]
• Have you ever taken God’s name in vain? [Oh yeah, many times]
• Have you ever disobeyed your parents? [mhm, lots, just ask them]
• Have you ever murdered anyone? Before you gleefully conclude that you haven’t (and I sure hope you never murdered anyone!), consider what Jesus says about this in Matthew 5:21ff. He says that everyone who is simply angry with his brother is liable to judgement. So let me rephrase that question: Have you ever been angry at anyone? [Yeah, pretty sure]
• Have you ever committed adultery? Again I hope you haven’t, and again Jesus turns it up a notch in Matthew 5:27ff. Have you ever looked at someone with lust? [I am ashamed to say yes, often]
• Have you ever stolen something, even if it was small? [Oh yeah]
• Have you ever told a lie? Remember that white lies are still lies. [Positive again]
• Have you ever wanted something that doesn’t belong to you? [Yes]

Now, let’s say you die and stand before God, and He judges you by these commandments. Would you be guilty or innocent? It may help to look at it as if you were in a court room here on earth with God being the judge. [guilty]

Heaven being the reward and hell the punishment, would you go to heaven or to hell? Don’t get too caught up in God being loving. Yes He is, very much, but He is also just and holy. A just judge won’t reward anyone who broke the law. Same with God. [hell]

Ideally, you would realize that you deserve to go to hell. I sure do. That’s pretty bad news. If that concerns you, keep reading. If it doesn’t, please think about it really hard. I am telling you this for a reason.

God is good, so there is also good news: the Gospel.
God became man and came down to earth, lived a perfect life and died for our sins. What you have to do in order to get that forgiveness of sins is simple: Repent of your sins and put your trust in Jesus. That means turn away from all the law breaking and trust Jesus, like you would a parachute jumping out of a plane, to fix it (cf Mark 1:15, Acts 17:30, Acts 20:21). Don’t just apologize. Repentance is a 180. Doing that will make you righteous and innocent in God’s eyes, not because of what you or I did, but because of what God did, and we will be innocent on the day of judgement.
If you have any questions about salvation, feel free to email me at christoph (*a*t*) zerodeviation (*d*o*t*) net.

Back to my story. Over time I realized that I was a very very bad person by God’s standard, but I was pretty good compared to other people. God dealt with that one just recently, too, and I soon realized that it wasn’t the case either. To explain, here’s an example: Let’s say we could put a microchip in our heads that records every thought we ever have, for one week. After that week, it’s broadcasted on YouTube. I for one would be very very embarrassed if other people saw that.
Like every human being born into sin, I am a horrible person, and I thank God for His sovereign grace and forgiveness that saved me from what I deserve and gave me what I don’t. This is my attempt to share that with you and the world.