The prison I’m at uses a pass system (similar to hall passes in high school) for access to the library and recreation yard. If I want to visit either of these locations, I have to stop by the office in the housing unit and sign out a pass, giving me permission to be in that area. One of the corrections staff will stand at the doorway or at the entry gate and ask me to show my pass in order to get in.
In a way, we need a “pass” to obtain entry into the presence of our Holy God. Not one of us is good enough on our own to do so. He is perfectly righteous, perfectly just in all He does, and perfectly holy. We are not. But when we accept by faith God’s offer to credit us with Christ’s righteousness, we have a pass that allows us to “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). We don’t have to worry about earning that grace; Christ did that once and for all at the cross.
Do you have your “pass”? His name is Jesus!