Nobody Can Bank Up Good Works for Salvation

Kids Say the Darndest Things

On my way to lunch today I overheard a snippet of conversion from one of the other students in the hall. She was talking about her 2-year old and was explaining a strange quirk the little ankle biter had come up with out of the blue concerning “banking up” for time out.

She said that recently she would find the little one sitting in the ‘time out spot’ when she hadn’t done anything wrong. Momz, of course, asked her why she was sitting there to which she replied simply that she was in time out.

When mommy asked why she was in time out the little girl replied that she was “storing it up” for a time when she really was bad so that she wouldn’t have to sit there as long then.

Both of the students cooed about how cute it was and all that, and I have to admit that it brought at smile to my face as well. On my way out to the car however, I thought about how typical this child’s actions were of humanity as a whole.

There is this strange, willful idea that we need to somehow “balance” the wrongs we do either with good works or some type of penance. This type of thinking was always very strong in the Catholic Church (and still is to this day in many less westernized countries) but it is also found in almost all religions around the world.

People hope that they can do “things” that will either cover their past wrongdoings or “bank up” for those that will be done in the future.

This type of thinking is in direct contrast to The Truth that is taught in The Bible. God’s Word teaches that we can never “bank” up righteousness for ourselves.

The Holy Bible actually says in Isaiah 64:6-7, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.”

If you get any in-depth study on this whole concept of righteousness being as filthy rags you’ll find that the word picture being presented in the original language does not wrap the concept of “filthy rags” as most of us think about it. We think of that and we conjure up images of a kitchen dish cloth that has been used too long and needs to be washed, or a garage rag that gets blackened up as we work on a car.

These in and of themselves would be pretty bad, but the concept being communicated is that of menstral rags. Whenever we start thinking in and of ourselves of the good things that we want to “bank up” for the future, these very “good deeds” are so tainted with sin that God looks at them as if we were trying to offer him filth-soaked menstrual rags!

Now that you know that, go back and read those two verses again. Changes the meaning a bit and makes it more drastic, doesn’t it?

The good news is that there is a “bank” of righteousness that each and every one of us have access to in the atoning work of The Lord Jesus Christ. His perfect work on the cross and his finalization of that work in his resurrection cover all of the sins we have ever committed and it is an overflowing “bank” of righteousness, forgiveness, and mercy that will cover all of the sins we might ever commit in the future!



This simple truth slips by so many, and is a key understanding that everyone must acknowledge if they are ever to have true, saving faith in Jesus. After all, we know from Acts 4:12 that “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”