Balancing the Books

As a veteran economics teacher, my first days with a new class always felt awkward—students were cautious, not quite sure what to expect. To break the ice, I’d ask them to sum up economics in a single word. Almost everyone wrote: “money.” Then I’d reveal a hidden message I’d prepared behind the screen: “It’s not about money.”

That one misconception often shaped their entire outlook. Until it was corrected, real understanding stayed out of reach. Interestingly, I’ve realized people make a similar mistake about something far more important: our relationship with God.

Ask almost anyone how to get to heaven and you’ll hear, “live a good life.” People admit their flaws, but they trust that the good in their lives outweighs the bad—like balancing a company’s accounts. But the gospel of Christ requires us to abandon that notion. As Isaiah 64:6 says plainly, “all our righteousness is like filthy rags” before God.

It’s human nature to think of that as harsh, so we find ways to soften it. We know there are truly terrible people in the world, but we convince ourselves that our own “rags” aren’t too bad. Maybe we’ve cleaned up well, folding and storing our faults out of sight. Then we can pride ourselves on living a life before God that is clearly above average—as if that could earn us points with Him. But, of course, that’s just another layer of self-deception.

When a person finally sees themselves as sinners standing before God with nothing to offer—without any plea—it naturally leads to a sense of despair. And at that point, the individual is ready for the truth of the gospel: that by sending Jesus in our place, God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Now all God asks is that we put our faith in Him.

If you’ve been trying to balance the books yourself, there’s good news: Jesus has already paid your sin debt. All you need to do is trust Him. If you are already a believer, remember—your standing before God is not based on your performance, but on grace. – Romans 5:6-8:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

. . . and that’s what I know today.