"It is finished!"

"Am I good enough to get to heaven?"  "Have I done enough?"  "Have I committed too many sins?"

All these questions mean that we have no clue......

When God began creating the heavens and the earth, He completed what He began.  By the end of the first chapter of Genesis, the writer switches from simple past tense to the past perfect tense:  God saw all that He had made, and it was very good......By the seventh day, God had finished the work He had been doing.  This change of tenses indicates (at least to English teachers) completion; He is no longer in process of doing the work, but it has been brought to a satisfactory finish.

[Note:  on a theological level, every act of God is eternal and on-going, so what He does once continues forever.  Christ saved us once on the cross, but the action and effect is on-going and eternal.]

During the seven days of creation, God sees what is still in process and sees that "it was good."  On the 7th day, however, He sees all of creation in balance and in relationship, under the dominion of mankind, created in His Image, and He sees that it is "very good," (better than just "good").

In the same way, because we are creatures bound by time, we are right now in the process of a new creation.  God's action in us is on-going, bringing us to completion.  But to Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of our salvation, "it is finished."  He does not bring us to a new birth, not to finish the work.  The work is not ours, but His.  The Book of Hebrews says it this way:

...he is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them (7:25). 

Am I "good enough" to go to heaven?  Let me put it this way.  In New Orleans, we can stand on the Moonwalk in front of St. Louis Cathedral and look across the Mississippi River to Algiers on the other side.  If we decided that we would all see who could jump across the river to the West Bank, some of us could undoubtedly jump further than others because they might have been practicing all their lives for the "big jump."  Some might be stronger or more athletic than others, so they could jump further --- but it doesn't matter who can jump how far; we will all end up somewhere in the river.  Fortunately, however, there is a great bridge across the river, so even the weakest and most feeble of us can get to Algiers.

Those who worry about doing enough to get to heaven fail to realize that we have a great Savior, Who is able to "save completely all who come to God through Him."  We don't have to be "good enough"---witness Mary Magdalene; the Good Thief; Matthew, the tax collector; and Zaccheaus, who cheated and robbed his way through life.  Maybe we are "better' than they were; maybe not. It doesn't matter.  There is only one Door to eternal life --- and He knows how to finish the work He begins in us. 

We need to shift our focus from being "good enough" to watching without taking our eyes off His work in us.  We need to know that, like our Father in faith, Abraham, we have no clue as to where we are going or how to get there --- but we do know and trust the One Whose love is eternal, faithful to us, and able to save us completely.  Jesus' last words on the cross were, "It is finished."  Why don't we believe Him?