Everyone gets judged every day.

You’re judged for how you look, what kind of shoes you wear, how you speak, how big your house is, how new your toys are, how good your grades are, and how good you are at sports.

You’re also judged for the things you do—especially all the wrong things, like talking in class, forgetting to do your homework, and “accidentally” pushing your little brother or sister off the trampoline.

One day, God will judge everyone, too, and it won’t be pretty (Rom 2:5ff)..

One day people will stand before Him, and He’ll reveal everything they ever thought, said, and did.

Would you want everyone to know everything you ever did—even what you did in secret? I doubt it!

On that day, there will be no secrets. Everyone will get justice.

Did you know there are two ways to go to heaven when you die? Two and only two.

The first way is to be perfect in everything. You can’t make even one mistake—ever. It’s like God is giving you a test and there’s only two options: you can get a 100% or an automatic fail.

How do you get 100%? You have to eat your food without complaining, do all the chores your parents asked you to do, never get angry at your brother, sister, or parents, never lie and if someone is mean to you at school, you must be perfectly loving to them. If you do that and a thousand other things perfectly for the rest of your life, then you can be saved.

But if you do even one bad thing, no matter how small, that’s an automatic fail, and you won’t be saved.

That’s what salvation is like under justice.

So how are you doing so far? What’s that? Have you already failed that test? Well, then, then justice is not a good option for you, and the only other possibility is to be saved through mercy. Here’s what the Apostle Paul said about that:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! (Eph 2:4-5).

God is rich in mercy. He’s so merciful that He sent Jesus Christ to save you. Before you even existed, Jesus already died on the cross for all your sins so that you could live forever with God. There’s just one thing for you to do: believe in Jesus (cf. Eph 2:8-9; John 3:16). If you do that, then God will save you, make you alive, and no matter how bad you are, you’ll never die. That’s what it’s like to be saved by grace.

Justice is expensive. But thank God that He’s a gazillionaire in mercy.

Send your questions or comments to Shawn.