In further explanation, lets say someone pulls off the road and helps a little old lady change a flat tire.
That person will be blessed in some form or fashion and sometimes in ways we don't understand.
If this same person does similar acts his whole life... I don't believe its going to merely be an act by act accounting to get into heaven. Its more.
One has to be truly Converted in ones heart and otherwise to get there. If one is Converted, meaning 'changed into someone more holy', pulling off the road will be a joy not just a chore.
Christ is looking for our conversions, not just our acts. He wants to see each one of us turn into something better than we are now.
Doing this requires a lot of work on our part and a lot of faith in Christ.
As we embrace this process of conversion, we ask the Lord for forgiveness through His Atonement.
The act of conversion is the same as the act of repentance.
All of those things add up into one great whole, and in the end we are judged by Christ on it.
We don't have to pay for our own sins in the Eternal sense of the word, but we certainly have to recognize them and seek to overcome as many of them as we can.
I wish our church would take an active role in that hope. I've seen so many abuses that I no longer attend the sacrament meetings. I also thought the Temples were special places; I no longer see them as such.