There are two cunningly devised myths that Satan has been successful in perpetuating through the years; both concern our works.

One, the unbeliever, possessing only human viewpoint, is convinced his good works far outweigh his sins, and since God is a loving, benevolent Father, He will not send him to hell. Refusing God’s way of salvation, the free gift of righteousness, and eternal life through the crosswork of His Son, like Cain, he wants to get to Heaven another way. None of us are without sin; "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). The only option left is either receiving or rejecting God’s free gift of His Son. The Lord Jesus would not have died on the cross if there were any other way.

What constantly amazes me is that people who are considered very successful and intelligent by this world’s standard, have been so unwise about the most important decision in their lives. The Bible tells us in Mark 8:36, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Because being lost means eternity in a place of torment, God made it clear in the Bible how to be saved.

The second myth concerns the believer who hears the truth that when he trusted Christ as his Savior, all his sins were forgiven--past, present, and future; that God refuses to charge any sin to his account, and has even thrown the blackboard away, "so it really does not matter how he lives." It does matter! The truth of our position in Christ is immutable, and Heaven is a sure thing, but the other side of the coin is that while God does not tell us anything about works when we are unsaved, we, as believers are told again and again "to walk worthy of the vocation to which we are called (Ephesians 4:1)." We cannot afford to be wrong in this area. We must go to the Word of God to see what it teaches for living the Christian life, just as we did to see how to be saved. The Word is very plain that one hundred years from now it will matter how we lived. Would we be influenced by the Apostle Paul’s teaching if he had been careless in his living? He said, "For me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:20,21); his goal in life was that Christ be magnified either by death or life. Proverbs tells us, "The memory of the just is blessed" (Proverbs 10:7). Most of us were influenced in trusting Christ because of a loved one who lived a godly life.

One of the saddest things about living carelessly, especially of Grace Believers, is that when we want to share Grace with other believers, we are often told, "Oh yes, we heard about grace from so and so; thanks, but no thanks." In many cases we discovered it was someone who lived for himself, and not for Christ.

I enjoy listening to "Up Close," on cable with Roy Firestone who interviews different sports personalities. He had Wayne Gretsky as a guest, and Wayne said many things that impressed me. Roy was asking him about his relationship with his parents and mentioned how unusual it was to hear of grown children that were close to their parents. Wayne said he never wanted to grieve them, and whenever he was confronted with a decision to do something, he would ask himself would this make his parents happy or unhappy. His aim was to please them. This reminded me of the verse in Ephesians 5:1 where Paul said, "Be ye, therefore, followers of God, as dear children." The more we understand Grace and realize the perfect provision God has given every believer, the greater will be our desire to please Him; "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:11).