I can’t be good enough to be a Christian

People who have fewer bad habits then other people generally have an easier time in life and in following the Lord. This does NOT mean that certain people are unsaveable. This does NOT mean that people with lots of bad habits shouldn’t even try.

In Luke 18:9, the Bible says: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

But the tax collector stood at a distance.  He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”

The Bible says the tax collector went away forgiven.  

The Pharisee felt that he was so righteous that he didn’t need forgiven.  So he was not forgiven.

This parable does not mean you take advantage of God’s mercy by not caring about committing sin.  The point is that NO ONE is good enough to get into heaven on their own merit.

Whether you are a Christian or not, there is a price to pay for sin.  God dealt with David for his sin of murder and adultery.  It is far better to ask forgiveness of our sins as a Christian and ask God to help you change, then to ignore them as a non-Christian.  Christians are saved by being forgiven, not for being perfect.