Today I want to answer the question: What is the difference between doing good because God loves you and accepts you and doing good so that God will love and accept you? To answer the question what is the difference, we need to look at what your behavior is telling you:

1. The Difference of Motivation

Why do you do what you do?

I know that most of us would say we do things because of what Jesus did for us. But that isn’t totally accurate for everyone. I don’t think anyone is being dishonest. It is, however, possible there is some confusion in your understanding. It can be really difficult to recognize our true motivation.

Insight to know your true motivation:

Look at what bothers you.

Love and acceptance is what your soul cries out for. When you don’t get it or feel that you don’t get it then anger, impatience, bitterness, frustration, depression, jealousy, envy… and other things show up in our lives. God allows triggers (things that bother us) to reveal our true motivate us to behave in a certain way.

God allows these triggers into our life to:

• Flush out unhealthy behavior,
• Reveal disharmony between our behavior and our beliefs.

It is normal to behave according to our beliefs. So, we can look at our behavior to reveal our true beliefs and to discern if you are doing good because God loves you or if you are doing good so that God will love you.

WARNING: When your behavior doesn’t align with your beliefs, the tendency is to ignore what your behavior is telling you! This is called living in denial. So, what does God do to help us? He allows things to come into our life to unmask our beliefs

The story of the prodigal son.

This is the boy whose impatience drove him to demand his inheritance before his father’s departure, and he went out and wasted his inheritance partying like a rock star. But when his money was gone so was the party crowd. After taking a job with a local pig farmer the boy comes to his sense and decides to try his luck at returning home.

This is the part of the story that is most famous. When the boy was walking up the country road his father, who has always had a hopeful eye on the horizon, sees his son recognizing his gait, runs in exuberance and greets the boy. Putting a robe on his back, a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet, the father calls to the servants:“Slaughter the fatted calf and get ready to party. This son of mine was dead, but now he has returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.”

That’s a great story and teaches a ton about the Father.

But there is another brother in this story who doesn’t get near the attention he deserves. From Jesus’ perspective, the older brother was why He told the story.

When this older brother here’s the noise of the celebration and learns the purpose is to celebrate his brother’s return, he is angered.

God allowed this circumstance to trigger anger. The older brother said, “All these years I have slaved for you, and you never even as so much as given me a goat to celebrate with my friends.” The younger brother’s return was just what the older brother needed to flush out his bad behavior and to reveal his wrong beliefs.

Here’s a second difference:

2. The Difference in a Quality of Life

In this story, it is the younger brother is inside celebrating while the older brother is outside feeling angry.

When we are resting in God’s love and acceptance, God’s Holy Spirit shows up in our life and produces this kind of fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.

This is where some people will say, “What does this have to do with me? I know I find my acceptance in Christ.”

This is where I ask, What’s bothering you? What are you feeling? Do you struggle with anger, depression, jealousy, envy, selfishness, impatience, addictions…

These are symptoms of a soul struggling to gain acceptance and love.

They are not necessarily signs that you don’t love Jesus and that you don’t understand His forgiveness and grace. But they may be an indication that on some level you struggle with His acceptance.

This is also where I caution you. It is easy when your behavior isn’t consistent and your stated belief is to ignore what you your behavior is telling you. But if we don’t catch this subtle sin it will destroy our self-esteem, steal our joy, and damage our relationships.

This subtle sin is easier for us Christians to fall into than you might have imagined. It isn’t that you haven’t received Jesus’ forgiveness. It is however, that you struggling on some level to believe that God accepts you just like the younger brother who was inside with the Father feasting while the older brother was outside pouting.

Don’t ignore what your behavior is telling you!

I don’t know of a better place to go to challenge your beliefs than to the Truly a Masterpiece training. In the Truly a Masterpiece training you’ll get what you need to begin winning over frustration, anger, bitterness, envy, jealousy, addictions, and learn to live in peace with yourself because of what Jesus did for you.

Until next week may God help you to live the life you were born to love.

Craig