People either loved or hated ABC’s TV series Lost.  For those who have spent the last six years living for Tuesday nights, eager to catch the latest episode of the mysterious show, last Sunday was bitter sweet.  Fans finally witnessed the conclusion of the always suspenseful saga, but they also bid farewell to the beloved cast.  It was the much anticipated final episode of Lost.

As most fans already know, Jimmy Kimmel had key cast members on his show following the last episode of Lost.  In an attempt to make sense of significant themes and underlying concepts woven throughout the Lost storyline, Jimmy made the following statement in a discussion with Matthew Fox, known as Jack on the show:

“In a lot of religions, Christianity being one of them, the idea is that life is a test.  That you go through your life, and if you’re good, you go to heaven or nirvana, or whatever, and if you’re bad, you don’t.  You go to hell or you don’t go anywhere.”

Jimmy is not alone in his misguided understanding of Christian foundations.  It seems many Americans understand Christianity to be just like other religions, one where we must strive to earn salvation through a series of good, moral works.  The idea is that, upon death, God will weigh our good works against our bad on some heavenly scale, and if our good works – and good intentions – out-weigh the bad, we will be welcomed into heaven.  Even a brief look at Christ’s biblical words, however, destroys such a notion.  Jesus expains that there are none good but the Father [God] (Mark 10:18), and that He did not come to the earth to save those that consider themselves righteous, but those that acknowledge their sinfulness (Matthew 9:13).

The very thing that sets Christianity apart from every other world religion is that we’re not trying to earn our salvation!  We recognize that the earned consequences of sin is death (Romans 6:23), both physical and spiritual, and we can’t pay that price tag, hence, Christ had to pay it for us by dying on the cross.

The idea that Christianity involves earning one’s right standing with God is not only incorrect, but a grave accusation against Christ’s sacrifice.  Didn’t Jesus cry out to God and ask that if there be any other way to save humanity, He please spare him the suffering of the cross (Matthew 26:39)?  And, despite Christ’s heartfelt prayer, didn’t God send Christ to the cross anyway?  God’s response to Christ’s prayer is obvious -  No Son, there is no other way for humanity to be saved.

My husband likes to say it like this: “If I’m a good person, and you’re a good person, why did Christ have to die?”

We all come from different walks of life and have failed God’s righteous standards one way or another.  But the one thing we have in common is that we all need a Savior. Furthermore, we don’t erase wrong doing by trying to do good things; that doesn’t even work in our earthly justice system.  Right standing with God is something we receive by grace through faith when we quit trying to cover up our sin and instead repent for it and ask God to save us through Christ’s sacrifice.

God saved you by his special favor when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8