Paid In Full
There is a debt we all were born with, that every single person... past, present and future owes. There is no amount of wealth that can pay it off, nor any amount of good deeds or works performed will retire or reduce it.
The Bible states in Romans 3:23 that "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God". It matters not that one person may have tried to be good from their youth, while another has rebelled and lived a life full of destruction - both of their eternal outcomes will be the same... unless they receive the atonement, the payment for their sins that is the centerpiece in all of God's Word provided by His Son Jesus Christ.
Those who believe that doing good works will get them to Heaven lack the understanding of what God says in His own Word that our righteousness and best deeds and justice are as "filthy rags" in Isaiah 64.
Thinking that being good or performing works qualifies is like a person owing a debt to the banker and arriving at the bank with Confederate or Monopoly money. It doesn't matter how much they brought, the banker will not accept it as payment for the debt. That is because God declared in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death.
However, the remainder of that verse contains our hope..."but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." He was the one who paid our debt, by the shedding of His blood for our sins - paying our penalty, and God credits that to the account of those who believe and declares them righteous because of what Jesus did in His awesome love for humanity.
Consider that if there were a way for man to pay for his own sins... that would mean Jesus left Heaven, came to earth and suffered an excruciating death for no reason. What if you had given a gift to someone, and they instead regarded it as something they earned from you? How would you feel? Salvation is a free gift extended to us.
If you have accepted Jesus, as we approach this time of remembering and celebrating His crucifixion and resurrection over death, let us regard that we owed a debt which we could not pay... and He paid that debt for which He did not owe.
If you have not yet accepted the free gift of salvation, given by the blood Jesus shed on the cross for your sins, there is no better time than right now to answer the call God has placed on your heart, and be reconciled to Him forever.
You can ask God right now to save you, to accept Jesus as your Savior. In Romans 10:9 it is written "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." And you can know that your debt has been paid in full.
God Bless you and may He show Himself greatly to you,
Paul
