WhereIsRevelation-
Welcome to the human race. Try as we might, none of us can live up to the standards of perfection that we know God uses as his 'yardstick'. That's why Jesus had to come among us in the first place. It wasn't to magically turn us into absolute perfectionists through our keeping the laws and commandments without fail. Instead, it was because none of us can keep the laws and commandments as God himself would require them to be kept if our salvation depended on our own efforts. That's why we call Jesus' passion and death 'an atoning sacrifice':
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by keeping the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:19-26,NIV)
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Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' " (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the deep?' " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:5-13,NIV)
If our only means of attaining eternal life was via our being 'good enough', heaven would be one empty place. But God compared what we were capable of doing with what he required for sinlessness (the prerequisite for having eternal life), saw that we could never 'measure up', and promptly took the necessary actions himself that would ensure that we could have the righteousness as a gift which we could never earn as a salary.
For this reason, we see whatever we accomplish as being a means of showing our gratitude for the salvation we have already been given, rather than its being an augmentation to that salvation, or even a necessary means of holding on to that salvation. We perform certain actions, such as feeding the hungry, while refraining from the performance of certain other actions, such as adultery, not because we see those actions as either ensuring that we keep our salvation or their being a threat to that salvation, but instead as our way of giving thanks to God for what he has done for us through our respecting his wishes and desires for us.
God bless-
