5 Assumptions About God And Why They Are WrongExemplo

Paid a Debt

Assumption: I need to work harder to make God happy.

Possibly the most popular Bible verse of all time is John 3:16—an amazing statement of God’s love. But if this verse is true, then why do we, as followers of Jesus, so often forget that what saves us is God’s love, not our good works?

In my job, I get to meet many children, most of whom come from very broken homes. The story of one little girl stood out to me over the last few years. “Sarah” lived with a very abusive man who would shout at her and hurt her if she ever upset him. She was eventually rescued and her story has a very happy ending. When I met her however, she had only recently been removed from her abusive home. As I got to know Sarah, I learned that her entire life had become consumed with making sure her father wasn’t mad at her. She thought if she just worked hard enough, her dad would be happy with her and wouldn’t hurt her but it never seemed to work.

Sarah’s mindset is like what many Christians struggle with. So many of us will read John 3:16, believe with our head that God loves us, but then spend all our efforts on trying to work hard enough to please God, as if in our heart we expect he is already angry with us and just looking for a reason to hurt us. We forget that John 3:17 tells us Christ’s entire purpose in coming to Earth is to save us from the very condemnation we fear!

The painful truth is that we are already condemned through our sins and yet he loves us. In fact, he loves us so much that He did everything he could to save us. Jesus paid a debt he did not owe for a debt we could not pay. Jesus knew you could not possibly work hard enough to please God. So He went to the cross, paid the debt of your sin, and opened up your pathway to God. All because He loves you so much.

God is not like Sarah’s abusive father. Instead, he is a perfect Father who loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. It’s time we stop trying to perform to make God happy and accept that what God really wants is to be in relationship with us.