When we have the inevitable doubts about whether or not we’ll be found good enough to get into Heaven, this passage is a guide. “You are my friends, if you do the things which I command you.”. John 15:14 (emphasis added)
Another guide: “You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Fare ye well.”, Acts 15:29.
If we have gotten to the point that we worry about whether Jesus, the Judge of each soul, is going to give us a favorable verdict, we’ve begun to get closer to The Loving Programmer than those who pay no attention.
The more thoroughly we analyze and improve our thoughts, words, and deeds to confrom with His commands, the closer to a favorable judgment we get. Quibbling is a big problem. If we quibble, like the stream of Pharisees who argued with Jesus, we may be found to be vain, offensive, avoiding the subject, and trying to justify doing what we want rather than simply obeying the Operating Instructions that have been painfully provided for us free-will programs to obey or deny.
“God, let me obey rather than quibble.” is a request we may want to make when we realize that we’re more interested in doing our will than His.