Passing Grade

 

What is the passing grade?

I would sure like to know,

If performance does count for something

Somebody please to me show.

 

How can I get to heaven?

Am I on the right road?

How many demerits am I allowed?

I need to set a goal.

 

Does my faith in Jesus suffice?

Or, is there something more?

E.g.: performance and track record

To bring to the fore.

 

What does “not by works” mean?

What must I do that does not count?

And, how much is required?

Please tell me the amount.

 

What sins must I avoid?

Where can I find this list?

Which sins are permissible

And with which ones am I at risk?

 

Must I wait till after the exam

To know if I have passed

And how will I get that information

When I am no longer in class?

 

Is this salvation you talk about

Somewhat like the lotto

Such that when my good deeds are added up

Only then would I know?

 

And what about these serious sins

That can disqualify me?

I have done a few in my lifetime

Though the church did not see.

 

 

I have often struggled

Being a particularly frisky lamb,

I guess there is no hope for me

For by now I must be damned.

 

I do not mean to be light about this

Neither appear to be trite

But if Jesus has paid the price for me

What still is my plight?

 

Something must have changed

From what was before,

I thought that having accepted Jesus

There was nothing more.

 

But apparently, I must pay back

In some measure what he paid for me

Through my self-righteous acts

And by not sinning seriously.

 

Now, please do not get me wrong,

I am not condoning sin

For I do believe there is outward evidence

For the transformation done within.

 

 

There must be a change in behavior

When one becomes saved,

The indwelling Holy Spirit appropriately

Moves that one thus to behave.

 

No sinning with gay abandon

As though one is still going astray

But a progressive and gradual growth

As one learns to walk God’s way.

 

Of course, they are the professors

Whom we often mistake

And confuse them with the born-again

Particularly so here of late.

 

No passing grade is required

For the born-again child of God,

He is a bona fide child of the Father

Who will never revoke his call.

 

 

 

Such a child is adopted by the Father

Through the blood of the Son

And the Holy Spirit seats him in heavenly places,

A.k.a. God’s Kingdom.

 

Stewart Russell © February 6, 2021