Grace or Self-Effort? (Sam Radford)

The ‘be better’ gospel leads to striving and shifts us away from the Gospel of grace. What might begin as an attempt to feel like a better Christian ourselves soon becomes an attempt to feel like a better Christian before others. And then, ultimately, it leads to our attempting to impress God by how much better we are.

Salvation is not and never will be by our good works. Nothing we can do will ever change God's acceptance of us. Nothing we can do will ever change the way God feels about us. He loves us as we are.