Pleasing God

'God will be pleased with me if I'm good.'
If a young person said that to you, how would you respond? Would you agree? Or disagree? And why?

YES: Living the way God wants me to live pleases Him. And as a Christian I want to please God.

NO: Many of us say 'pleased with me' when we really means 'accepts me'. But God does not accept us on the basis of our goodness (none of us are good enough). We are accepted on the basis of Christ's goodness alone.

So it's not 'God will accept me if I live a good life'. Instead, it's 'Because God has accepted me (through Christ), I want to live His way.' In many cases the actions may be the same - 'being good' - but the heart is different, the motivation is different.

The consequences of disobedience are different, too. If we believe that God only accepts us if we're good - but then we mess up - that leads to despair. But if we believe that God accepts us through Christ - and then we mess up - we repent and move on. We know that God has forgiven us and we still want to live His way.

These are issues I'm currently pondering ready for the first of our series of Big Issue training days around the country. This year's theme is 'Grace & Law', so I've been thinking about how children and young people can misunderstand these things. I long for the young people I work with to understand God's grace - and to understand the freedom this gives them. Not freedom to do whatever they feel like - but freedom to follow Christ and live His way. If you have any thoughts on the above, that might help me teach this more clearly - I'd love to hear them.