A good illustration

I read a good illustration the other day about something that so many of us get quite confused.

Many people talk as if their life will be judged at the end of their life based on how many good and bad things they did. They say that this balance will decide their eternal future...if they do enough good works.

But consider this: If your wife or husband decided to cheat on you only one time per week. But when you confronted him/her, (s)he said, "It's OK, because I have done a 100 0r more really good tings for you--I made dinner, took care of the kids, earned a living, fixed the house problems, massaged your back,....." Of course, that answer wouldn't do. You see, we know that even in our human relationships, such a standard would never apply; yet why do we think an infintie perfect Dad would accept such regular imperfection ("rebellion...if we're honest about it). Such a thought.

Another illusion to brake down is th idea that we can actually gain merit before Dad. But if anyone creates something else, the creature/creation can never earn merit for when it does good things, it is merely doing what it is obligated to do...by virtue of its creation and design. Therefore, no one can actually get "good points", because all the good works we can imagine never gain us "merit". In fact, we can only gain "demerit" because any wrong doing is an infinitely terrible offense since it offends the name and reputation of an infinitely worthy person. The crime is infinitely heinous and thus deserves infinite punishement. SO, we have a problem. We can't gain merit and we can (and do) only receive "demerit". This should make it clear to us why our only true course of action is to simply beg for mercy and depend on Dad's unimaginable mercy and grace. But he have to admit the situation and be humble first.