I firmly believe that one of the greatest travesties a Christ-follower can commit is losing his sense of awe and wonder at the grace of God. Most, if not all, true believers in Christ will affirm that they’re saved by grace through faith, and that this salvation is wholly outside of them. (Eph 2:7–9) But because our hearts are naturally wicked and prone to wander, to stray from all that’s good and godly, many Christians fall into the trap that, while their entrance into the Kingdom was granted by God (justification), their perseverance in Kingdom is on them (sanctification). The conclusion many come to is that their works amount to something and that God must recognize them as part of his divine plan of redemption. But no assumption could be further from the truth of the gospel. Determining that earthly good works are significant enough to alter or enhance your heavenly state of justification before the Universal Judge is absurd.