They had a potluck lunch at the office, and Albert joined his coworkers to sample homemade food and to visit with them before getting back to the pressures of his job. When lunch was over, one of the men shared pictures of a recent trip he’d taken to Saudi Arabia. Abdul had just returned from a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca.
There were photos of minarets and a glittering golden mosque. Crowds of pilgrims in traditional dress bowed down to pray in the glaring, midday sun. Abdul told about the rituals he performed while in Mecca: a special walk circling a house of prayer seven times and drinking from a sacred well. Albert found the pictures interesting, since he had never traveled to the Middle East with its different culture and landscape.
After the slideshow and as they were getting ready to return to their desks, someone called over to Sarim, Abdul’s friend and fellow-countryman. “Why haven’t you gone on a pilgrimage yet, Sarim?” The other workers knew that in the religion these men professed, every able-bodied person who could afford it was expected to go to Mecca once in their lifetime.
“Well,” he answered with a smile, “I’m not done sinning yet.” This brought a general laugh to the crowd, but Albert felt sad for his coworkers. Though still a young man, Albert knew that sin was no laughing matter. If Sarim, Abdul or any of the other workers will not come to God, seeking His way of forgiveness for sins, they will land in the judgment of hell at the end of their lives. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)).
Knowing of the coming judgment, Albert had accepted God’s offer of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ and had become a Christian believer as a young boy. Now he had a new nature that wanted to please God. No expensive pilgrimage or any kind of religious ritual or good works could give him the very real peace he felt in his soul today, knowing his sins were forgiven.
People all around the world are blinded by the teachings of good works and religious rituals outweighing their sins, and they have no peace. They can only HOPE that what they do will earn them a place of favor when they die. Ephesians 2:99Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:9) tells us plainly that salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” Here is the true way of escape from our sentence of judgment: “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:2828So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)).
Christianity doesn’t ask us to DO anything, but to rest on what has already been DONE for us. Salvation’s work was FINISHED more than two thousand years ago. It was at that time God sent His Son Jesus Christ down to this world, for the purpose of redeeming mankind from sin.
Jesus was born to a virgin in the land of Israel. After living a short life of a little over thirty-three years, He was nailed to a cross of wood, and He died there, shedding His blood to pay our debt of sin. He rose from the grave on the third day and lives in heaven now, awaiting the time when He will call all who believe in Him to join Him there.
Instead of trying to earn a place in heaven with good works, come to Jesus Christ and confess your failure to live up to God’s perfect standard. Be open and honest with Him about your sins ... He already knows all about them. He loves you and is waiting to forgive your sins and to give you peace and His promise of everlasting life.
Do you think it is in your power to be “done sinning”? Do you still think you can do something to earn heaven? The answer to both questions is NO. Instead, why not take God’s gift of free salvation? We hope that someday all Albert’s coworkers will have their eyes opened to their need of God’s forgiveness through Jesus, accepting His FINISHED work for them. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).