“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” —John 10:10
There’s an invisible force that has pushed me my entire life. It’s a pressure I feel most days. It’s a voice inside my head that whispers two words on repeat: do better.
It’s not sinful to want to be a better you. But there are some ugly undercurrents that often flow beneath our desire to improve. Instead of feeling better about ourselves because we’re making improvements, we feel terrible because we still have so far to go. Our relationship with God can be impacted even more. When “do better” is the driving force of our faith, we feel squashed by God because we know we can never measure up. When we twist “love the Lord your God” into “do better,” the Christian life becomes a terrible cycle: fail, try harder, fail again. Try, fail again, try harder.
God desires that our walk with Him be life-giving. When we live as “do better” Christians, we miss out on the joy and peace God loves to give His children. This is why Jesus is so much better!
Make it Personal
In what areas of life do you feel constant pressure to “do better”? How can Jesus set you free from this pressure?