A question from last week. "Am I required to do all that stuff I hear in order to be a Christian? When I listen to so many reports about how good someone is and then look at my life, I feel as though I lack the qualifications."

I'll give you my answer – as best I can remember – but I am very aware that this is my opinion and up for debate.

When I was being examined by the Session of the very first church I was to pastor, the elders were spot-on when it came to being thorough. "John, which comes first in your life?"

I replied that since God gave me my family, then my family must be first in my life. If I can't be responsible, loving and accountable for them, then what kind of a pastor can I hope to become?

What I hoped was very clear is that whatever happens in life insofar as what God gives me to fill my world from birth to death, is to live for every day, do the best job I can, treat everyone I meet as a neighbor and leave the final details to God.

Sometimes folks separate the worthy from the so-called not worthy by levels of status or who did more and who did less. Does that also apply to those who fill the offering plate and those who can barely spare a dollar? I will only skirt the issue of those who never miss a Sunday, memorize large portions of Scripture, like all of the hymns, enjoy the food on Wednesday night in the fellowship hall and stay awake through the entire sermon.

What I am trying to say is that I believe with all my heart that God has chosen each and every one of us for His heaven and there is more than enough room for all. 

Whether we have a penthouse or a pad on his back porch is hardly debatable as long as we are with God and our loved ones. What's in store for us in heaven? It'll be out of this world!

Let me digress a tad. I'd like to meet St. Peter at the gates. And I am very certain that I will be in God's presence for judgement. It just might be like the old Jewish story, "When I stand before the Almighty, praise His Name, He will not ask me why was I not Moses. He will rather ask, "Why were you not you?"

I have been working very hard to be me.

As a product of the Reformation, I will mention old Martin Luther, who struggled long and hard to find out just what God wanted and expected of him. He said, "No man worked at his monkery, priesthood, more than I. I was the best monk that I could be and still felt so unworthy and lost."

He even pestered his fellow monks every chance he could so he could confess his sins and could receive the church's forgiveness. 

Eventually, they asked him not to come back until he had some sins worth hearing. Luther finally found his answer in Romans 3:23: "We are saved by grace! Nothing more and nothing less."

There was nothing that Luther could do to make God love him. He was loved by God!

By the way, I am not ignorant of the letter of James and his statement, "You show me your faith and I will show you my works and by my works I will show you my faith."

He was not talking about God's unconditional love. He was explaining to his readers that faith and works were not debatable qualities or requirements for getting points or medals.

How about just having the faith of a mustard seed, work that out in your spare time and leaving a day at your job knowing you did the best you could?

In conclusion – and there is so much more that can be said – live out your life as a gift. We don't have to be systematic or deliberate about it. Let's just be loving, caring, smiling and nice. Especially, be nice.

Thanks, God!