In the work that I do I have many opportunities to meet one-on-one with men to discuss the status of their spiritual lives. I generally ask them to share with me their spiritual journey, going all the way back to childhood.

I often hear this response: “I grew up going to church, when I got to college I quit going to church, and once I got married and had children we started going back to church.” They might add that they have lived a pretty good life.

In essence, for many people, Christianity is all about what you do. It is oriented towards good works whether it be going to church or living a good moral life.

This reminds me of a humorous story shared by Bruce Wilkinson. It is about a man he met named Rudy.

Rudy had that look. His wife had just introduced him to me at the front of the church, then “unexpectedly” left to attend to other matters. Rudy stood there awkwardly, hands shoved in his pockets. I’m sure he would have given half his life savings to be delivered from my presence.

I smiled and asked how I could help.

”My wife wants me to get religion,” he said, scuffing the carpet with the toe of his shoe.

I asked him why.

He grimaced. “So I don’t go to hell.”

“Are you planning to go to hell sometime soon?” I asked.

He looked at me, then burst out laughing. He seemed relieved to find that a Bible teacher might have a sense of humor.

“So,” I continued, “when you stand before God, what’s going to keep you out of hell?”

Dead silence, then Rudy chuckled. “I guess I never thought about it quite like that.” He continued hesitantly, “I’m not a bad person, you know. I don’t run around on my wife like some of my friends. And I try to be a nice guy most of the time …”

I decided to help him out. “So God probably has a big scale, wouldn’t you think? On one side would be your sins—you do sin, don’t you, Rudy?”

He nodded.

I continued. “And on the other side would be all those good things you do for your wife, your kids, your community, and so on. Am I on the right track?”

Rudy nodded with more enthusiasm.

“And when God puts your life on His big scale, you’ll have more good than bad, and everything will be okay, right?”

A smile crossed his face. He liked how my answer was shaping up. I told him that it all made sense to me, too, but I had a question. I took out my pen and drew a line like this:

 

TOTALLY EVIL __________________________________ TOTALLY GOOD

(0 percent good)                                                         (100 percent good)

 

“Clearly,” I said, “you just need to decide how much more good than bad you need for the scale to tilt in your favor.” I handed Rudy my pen and asked him to put and x on the line to mark how close to “Totally Good” he’d have to get to be good enough for heaven.

Rudy studied my pad, then started to mark an x at about 60 percent. Then he reconsidered and moved it closer to 75 percent, then paused to think again. Finally he shook his head and drew a rather feeble x at about the 70 percent spot.

He handed me back my pen without looking up.

I pointed to his mark. “Let’s say you hit your spot right on the nose, Rudy, because you really aren’t that bad of a guy. But what if when you meet your Maker He reveals to you that, unfortunately, the x spot is farther to the right—sat at 71 percent. If you were 70 percent ‘good’ but God said the minimum required was actually 71 percent, where would a person like you go?”

He crossed his arms, still not looking at me. “Hell, I guess.”

“Then finding out where the actual x is on that line would be the most important question of your life, right?” I asked.

Rudy grunted in agreement. “Yeah, I’m just not too sure where it ought to be.”

I closed my notepad and started picking up my things, but Rudy wasn’t moving. “Can I know exactly where the x is?” he asked. “Cause I really need to know. Maybe you could take another minute and show me?”

I was hoping he would feel that way. We found a seat in a quiet corner, and I showed him what the Bible says about that x. He understood, he responded … and that was the day my new friend hit God’s mark perfectly, by putting his faith in Jesus.

Richard E Simmons III is the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Executive Leadership and a best-selling author.