Genesis 15:6. And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
How do we know when someone is good at something? Well, often we keep score. How do we know that you are good at math? We look at your score on the math test. How do we know that a team is good at basketball? We look at how many points they scored in the game. Even mom and dad probably get a score of some sort at work that shows how good they are at their job.
How do we know when we have become a good person? How can we tell that we deserve to go to Heaven to be with God? The Bible calls this being righteous. Being good. Being obedient to God and all his ways. So how can we know when someone is righteous?
Well the Bible makes it clear that we can never become righteous by being good, and if we tried to keep score of our good and bad deeds, we would all fail the test. Take Abraham for example. Let’s say he gets one point for being good, but loses a point for being bad. His score might look something like this:
Obeyed God and went to the Promised Land: +1 point.
Built altars and worshiped God: +1 point.
Left the Promised Land and went to Egypt: -1 point.
Lied to Pharaoh in Egypt: -1 point.
Risked Sarah’s life: -1 point.
Rescues Lot from the bad kings: +1 point.
Doubts God and suggests his servant be his heir: -1 point.
OK, you get the idea. If God were keeping score to see how righteous (good) we are, then none of us would ever pass. And what is “passing” anyway? Sixty percent? Don’t we have to be perfect in order to pass with God?
But here’s the good news: GOD DOESN’T KEEP SCORE.
That’s what Genesis 15:6 is teaching us. Abraham was counted as righteous because he believed, not because he was good. Abraham’s faith saved him, not his good works. This is one of the most important truths of Christianity – we are saved by faith alone, not by being good.
When Abraham believed God, his score instantly went from 0 to 100. The imperfect Abraham was counted as perfect. The liar was now seen as truthful. The man with all those fears and doubts was now credited with being faithful and courageous. The sinner was forgiven by God. Why? Because of his simple faith in God’s promise – that God would send a son to save him.
What is the faith that saves us today? That God has sent HIS son, Jesus, to save us. Now we can see that God’s promised son to Abraham would ultimately be Jesus. Jesus will be the greatest blessing from God, not only to Abraham, but to everyone on Earth.
And when we trust in Jesus we too are credited as righteous. No more score keeping. No more grades from God. No more wondering if we’ve done enough. Jesus did it all for us! In this life everyone else will give you a score. At school. In sports. At work. In almost everything we do, we are being graded. But not with God. Not with Jesus. He has earned the perfect score for us, and it can be yours by faith.
You: Do you think you do more good things than bad things? Have you ever tried to earn a higher score with God by being good?
You with Jesus: How does knowing that God is not keeping score of your good and bad behavior help you to actually want to be good like Jesus?
Prayer: Father, if you kept score I would fail every test. But Jesus you got a perfect score for me. Help me to always trust in your goodness and never my own. Amen.
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