Have I Not Earned Heaven?

Christ was the Master Teacher. He stunned the most learned of his day with his understanding and insights. One of his best techniques was his use of questions. It's interesting to study the sorts of questions that he would ask and how they furthered his teaching. One question that he posed called my attention as I was reading in the seventh chapter of Matthew.

"21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23. And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you.

I've heard this scripture cited many times by missionaries trying to talk about the importance of having the Priesthood when doing the Lord's work, but that interpretation has never sat very well with me. This time that I read this passage I noticed something I hadn't before.

In these verses Christ is asking a question, but it isn't directed at an audience, rather he is posing a question that he knows that some of us may be tempted to ask of him at judgement day.

Evidently the individuals that would ask this question are those that are not pleased with the judgement passed and are trying to justify a higher reward. They begin to list all the good deeds that they did in Christ's name thinking that they deserve to heaven. Essentially what they are doing is looking at the Lord and saying "Do I not deserve better? Have I not earned Heaven?"

The Lord's response to such is instructive. He responds "I never knew you." It appears in that all their doings, individuals that would be tempted to ask such questions of the Lord, failed to develop a personal relationship with him. They thought that they could earn their way to heaven. They completely failed to understand that such a thing is impossible. We do not earn heaven, rather we are given the opportunity through Christ to be accepted into heaven. It is through Christ and his atonement that salvation is achieved, not through the merit of our actions alone. 

Think about it like this. Everything on this earth is temporal. Even the most precious substance of this earth is most likely considered to be worth less than the lowest substance in heaven. All of the most wonderful sincere acts of goodness that we can perform pale in comparison to the least of the works of God. So how is it that some of us think that by our actions we can earn a spot in his kingdom? We simply can't. Heaven cannot be earned. None of us truly deserve heaven. Heaven is perfection, and we most certainly are not perfect.

I am not saying that none of us will be received into heaven. It is my sincere hope that all of us become sanctified through the blood of Christ and enter into God's kingdom. I am merely trying to emphasize that it is spiritually dangerous for us to feel a sense of entitlement towards are admittance to heaven based upon our actions. Instead we should seek to humbly follow Christ. When we perform acts of goodness it should not be to earn points on some imaginary entrance exam for heaven, rather it should be because through our personal relationship with Christ we learn to be better people, we learn to desire to do good, and we do good out of love for God and our fellowman. If we do this, then through the power of his atonement, Christ will perfect our imperfections and make us fit to be citizens of God's Kingdom.