A Little Story

I have a little story I'd like to tell.  It starts with a young girl who was good.  She grew up in church and knew what was right and wrong.  She respected her parents, didn't party, drink, smoke, or sleep around, and even got along with her sibling most of the time.  To those who knew her she was a good girl and one who you'd be happy to have as your friend or take home to meet the parents.  
However, for all the "goodness" on the outside there were things on the inside that no one knew of that weren't good.  There were thoughts and even actions that were not ones to be proud of.  "If they only knew what was going on in my head, they wouldn't think so highly of me" was a common thought.  Something was missing but what was it?  She tried to do better but found that the more she tried the more she failed.  
Our young girl went off to college and heard for the first time that she could have a guarantee of going to Heaven when she died.  "Isn't that a little conceited and presumptuous?" she thought.  "How can you know that you've been good enough?  Shouldn't you just do as much good as you can and hope you'll get in?  That seems much less prideful than thinking you have an assurance of spending eternity in Heaven."  No matter what she told herself, the thought of knowing for sure where you were going once you died wouldn't not leave her.  
Being a "good girl" she started attending a Bible Study with some other young girls at 20 years of age.  It was the right thing to do and good and it might help soothe this unsettling feeling that was becoming ever so prevalent within her.  One night at this Bible Study one of the girls read a verse that changed her life forever:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast"

Ephesians 2:8-9

"What?!?  You mean salvation is a gift to be received?  It's not something you can earn or work for?  I've never heard that before?  Could it possibly be true?"

Over the next several months she pondered this verse and could not get away from it.  She also became increasingly aware of areas in which she did fall short of what God (not man) expected from her and that there was a way to have peace in her life and assurance of Heaven once she left this earth.

Then came one fateful, half-hearted prayer to get out of a situation that was not the best but one she had committed to.  One month later God not only delivered her from the situation but miraculously protected her while doing so.  Two nights later she prayed and recognized her sin in all areas of her life and need for a Savior.  She asked the Lord to be Lord of her life and He became such.  

Things were different from then on in her life.  There was a difference because of the hope she knew was present.  She also began to go through the good and painful process of sanctification as He showed her things in her life that needed changing.  Sometimes she did not handle these very well.  No matter what, though, she knew forgiveness was hers not because she deserved it or had earned it but because the King of all left the splendor of Heaven to walk this earth blamelessly to suffer and die for her.  Because His love for her was so great.

This young lady was and is me.  I wanted to share this with you because there are many out there who, like me, think they are OK because they are basically "good."  However, if the end of my life had come before that fateful confession I would be a good person spending eternity in Hell because I could not and can not earn a place in Heaven.  I hope that if you do not know where you would be if you died today, you will wholeheartedly consider it.  We will all be gone from this earth one day, that is for certain.  Where will you spend eternity?