Coach: Ask your student to read out-loud the below title and the text in the two boxes. Then ask them to comment on how often they actually think one way versus the other way.
So, what’s all this got to do with being a good person?
If you see God as determining your goodness based on what you do, then the pressure on you will be a non-relenting burden that will always eventually result in futility. This will be for you an oppression and bondage—one that Satan has designed for you and delivered to our first parents in Genesis 3:1-7.
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On the other hand, if you see God as the one who provides you with goodness apart from what you do, you will see Jesus as your Sabbath Rest and you will rest in Him.
(Hebrews 4:9-10, 14, 16)So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. ...Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ...Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (ESV)
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An opportunity for spiritual training:
As you experience questions of self-goodness in your life, you will see these questions as either taking you into a futile bondage of your good works, or you will see them as leading you to rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
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As you may naturally struggle with self-esteem, stop the struggle. Remember what determines your worth is not what you do, but what God, who made you, did
(2 Corinthians 4:7But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (ESV)) . The value of anything is the price that is paid for it. Jesus paid the price to make you good. He is in you (Galatians 2:20I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (ESV)) . When you feel you are being judged, don’t focus on what you did or didn’t do.
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Coach: Have your student read the text on the left out-loud. Have them explain what the two included Bible verses have to do with what it says. Then discuss the questions and Bible verses below with your student.
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Questions to Discuss With Your Coach:
- Think about the judge. Who is He?
- What are His qualities?
- How does He reach verdicts of approval of you? (2 Corinthians 5:21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)andRomans 8:1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (ESV))
- How can you let the Holy Spirit teach your “inner voice” to say, “righteousness is about the judge, not the judged”? (John 3:17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (ESV))
