It's amazing to me how embedded the notion of meritorious deeds is in our society. It is held by almost anyone you meet that if you do what is good, then good things will happen to you, but if you do bad things, then you better watch out. This seems to fit very well with what Paul says concerning the law of God being written on the hearts of unbelievers. Perhaps this notion is no more clearly seen than during the holiday season when people inevitably reflect upon how well they behaved themselves this year and how much better they would like to do the next. Even our children are nor spared from this principle of the lex talionis ("law of retribution") when they are told that Santa has a list that he's checking twice to find out whose been naughty or nice. Thankfully, the gospel tells us that Christ has come and lived a perfect life of obedience in our place and through his death and resurrection, has obtained for us the forgiveness of sins and everlasting righteousness. No longer do we as Christians strive to do good works in order to obtain our salvation, but we do good for gratitude's sake, showing our thankfulness for what Christ has done. This is how it must be because we all deserve much worse than just a lump of coal in our stocking.
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