You know what I'm talking about, don't you? I'm fairly Internet-savvy, and put out quite a bit of content. I got to thinking, Really, how much is out there? What is out there?
So I Googled first my real name, and then the fake name that I use just about anywhere else on the Web. Was I ever surprised! YouTube, Geocaching.com, Picasa, the list was endless. Honestly, I had no clue how much of my personal information was "out there"!
That got me to thinking. What could a crook do with all that personal info? OK, so I really didn't need to go down that train of thought, but still, I needed to think about what I was putting "out there". For example, I had pictures on Picasa (which I had taken four years ago!) public so everyone could see them. I hadn't known that! Quickly I changed the settings from "public" to "only me". Ditto on several other websites, and in the process I convinced myself (again!) why I shouldn't give away too much personal information!
One of the things that I had been most amazed at was how everything--everything--that I had put "out there" was recorded when it had happened, even down to the tiniest little second! Whew! Boy, was Google sure accurate at remembering everything! Then that got me thinking...God has an even better memory than Google! God doesn't just remember what we did when we did, He knows the motive behind every act and all the background, too. He knows everything.
Now that's a scary thought!!
I don't know if I want God to know everything I've done! I mean, I like to think of myself as a pretty good person, but to be honest, well, um, let's just say that there's some areas which could use improvement! I don't know if I really deserve to be called "Christian"! And sadly, there's no option to switch my personal info from "public" to "only me".
This idea certainly could be a scary thought--if God does know everything we have done, and nothing is hid from Him, will we get to Heaven?
Quick answer: no, not by ourselves at least. We have no claim to fame, no righteousness in and of ourselves to merit an entrance into Heaven. God has seen everything, including our (many) sins. According to His law, no sinners are allowed into Heaven.
"For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23)
Death is our fair punishment, since we have trespassed His law. But glory to God, that's not where the story stops! He couldn't bear to let us die and not come to Heaven to live with Him. Thus, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to step into our shoes and bear our punishment, while we stepped into Jesus' shoes and got what He deserved.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
And so, Romans 6:23 doesn't stop with the quotation above! The verse continues:
"...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
Gift! Eternal Life! God has miraculously, wonderfully provided a way through which we can again have a chance to live forever with Him. All we have to do is accept this totally free, no-strings-attached gift! And when we do accept this gift, God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness and sin:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
Isn't that just wonderful?? And I promise you, there are absolutely no nag screens or catches involved! When we ask Him, God will "forgive and forget" all our sins:
"You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:19)
When we ask Him, God truly will "delete" all that personal information about our sins. If we ever "searched" God's "database", we could spend as long as we wanted but never find even the slightest record of our sins. That's better than Google! How about you give God a chance today?
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