“Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 6:6

A long time ago someone said to me that a certain person would make a fine Christian. It wasn’t hard to understand what the person meant but it showed a misunderstanding of the Gospel message and what it is to be a Christian.

What they meant was that the other person lived a moral life of high standard. Did that person love Jesus? No! Did he care that Jesus died on a cruel cross for his sin? No!

A perfectly moral life may be an abomination to God if it is not lived in absolute dependency on Him. A wealthy ruler came to Jesus and asked Him, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18) Jesus asked him if he had kept all the commandments that address human relationships. He had kept them all from his youth but that wasn’t enough. He had neglected the commandments toward God.

There are people in our community who are morally very good toward men but have no time for the Lord Jesus Christ. Some may be very religious, even regularly attend a church, like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day but Jesus said, “that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

The evidence that a person is alive to God through Jesus Christ will be a growing likeness to Jesus Christ, not only in His morality toward other people in society but especially in his love toward God and Jesus Christ revealed through a knowledge of and obedience to His Word.

The most ungodly person you know will make a fine Christian when once he/she is created new in Christ’s likeness. The most moral person you know, who has not received Jesus Christ, is an abomination to God and must repent to be saved.