God's Standards vs. Our Standards

Have you ever heard these questions:

• Why would a loving God send good people to Hell?
• Won't God accept that my good deeds outweighed my bad ones?
• How can God judge Hitler and someone who had only done little sins with the same Hell?
• What about the person who has never heard of Jesus, why should they go to Hell?

 Well, many of these types of questions arise from a lack of understanding about God's standards compared to ours. How a Holy God sees sin, is much different than how we view it. The right justice required for sinning and punishment for it, is obviously different than what we think someone deserves. Why?
 As humans, we sometimes see our sin as not all that serious. Yes, we lie, lust, cheat, etc. But it is not as bad as rape, murder, or adultery. We naturally claim our own goodness and that we do more good deeds than bad. So most people believe that are fit to go to Heaven if they have not committed the "mortal" sins. I was one of those people at one time.
 The Lord sees all sin as deserving punishment: "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." (James 2:10) Sound harsh? That is because a Holy God demands perfection. God's nature is perfection and nothing about Him is evil or sinful. So God's law is righteous and holy: ^" For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. ^"(Romans 7:11-12)
God's law is good because it reveals our sin and what true righteousness is! Therefore we get a glimpse of God's standards and His nature. God is a good Judge and good judges punish sin! Even if your sin is "just a lie" compared to murder, God must punish you for breaking his Holy Law! 
Hell is God's wrath against sin and evil, and because God loves what it pure, Hell exists because sin must be punished!
 Now we all know we have broken God's law. We all stand guilty before Him. "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) But the next part of that verse gives us hope: "and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (v. 24) The "all" here is not saying all of humanity will be saved, but "all" who have placed their trust and faith in Jesus Christ to save them will be justified freely. Being justified means: to be made right with God or declared to be forgiven.
 Jesus being God's Son came to earth to fulfill the demands of perfection and died in our place as a perfect man in order that we could be set free from the punishment that God's standards of holiness deserve! Our standards are weak and feeble! It will not add up on the day of judgment! All our goodness is as filthy rags compared to the absolute perfect nature of God. That is why we need Christ to step in our place and do what we could never do ourselves! 
 No, we are not naturally "good" people! Some people are more sinful than others, but we are all nonetheless, sinful at heart! We all need Jesus because none of us lives up to the standards God has given, only Jesus has done that!  
 Place your trust in Him today and turn from your ways:

"Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)           

IN Christ -Dustin