Best as we can see it, there is always ample reason to pretend we are doing well. The discomfort of exposed weakness presses us toward self-righteousness and feigned decency. We live out our days aiming to convince this world and God and mostly ourselves that we are on track. But all of this religious posturing is worthless. Jesus once told of two brothers, one who openly defied his father only to relent later, the other who took a posture of obedience only to never follow through. "Which of the two did the will of his father?" Jesus asked. A lifetime of folly is swallowed up if only the will of the Father is carried out. By the same token, a lifetime of good intention is of no value if the will of the Father is rejected. "And this is the will of my Father," Jesus said, "that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." The final judgment of God will not be between those who looked the heavenly part and those who didn't. His final judgment will concern only this: belief in his Son.