On Being Good

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.” - C.S. Lewis

There are many things about Christianity that get misunderstood. I’ve encountered all kinds of misperceptions about angels, what happens after we die, God’s involvement (or lack thereof) in our world, and especially in biblical interpretation. All of these things are important and ought to be set straight. But the most serious and deadly misunderstanding of Christianity is this: the belief that we need to be good enough for God to love us, bless us, and rescue us.

Ask a random person about the core of Christian belief, and they will likely tell you that it’s about living a good life so that you can go to heaven. Or that Christianity is essentially a level of moral achievement. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Christian belief always begins with God’s love and his desire to redeem and rescue us. We can never be good enough for God to love us. But God loves us so much that he will transform us and make us good.