Don't good people just go to heaven when they die?

What it means

The instinct that good people go to heaven runs deep, but it rests on two mistaken assumptions: that we are basically good, and that heaven is a wage we earn. Scripture says otherwise; 'there is no one righteous, not even one' (Romans 3:10), and 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God' (Romans 3:23). Ephesians 2:8-9 cuts the root of self-salvation: 'For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.' Heaven cannot be earned because the standard is the perfect holiness of God, and our best efforts remain stained (Isaiah 64:6). The good news is that what we could never achieve, God freely gives in Christ, who lived the righteous life we failed to live and died the death our sins deserved. Salvation is therefore not a trophy for the deserving but a gift for the undeserving who trust Him.