Many of us believe the lie that "we must be approved and liked by others in order to feel good about ourself." So how do we stop living for the approval of others? It's by understanding what God thinks of us. 

The trap of religion is that you must perform in order to feel good about yourself and make God happy. But the Gospel says, "You don’t owe God." God is not asking you to live your life trying to repay the grace He has lavished on you. He is asking you to live your life enjoying the grace He has lavished on you!

"I feel unworthy. I feel like I've messed up too much." Guilt convinces us that we are bad.  And that we've done too much for God to love us or forgive us. When we come to understand God's grace, we can let go of the guilt that trips us up.

Do you feel hopeless? Have you messed up and feel ashamed? Jesus came to remove the shame that causes us to hide and question God’s goodness. And He has promised that He will always be in us and we will always be in Him, no matter the mess we find ourselves in. He's not ashamed to be our brother or our God (Hebrews 2:11; 11:16).

Acts 17:28 says, "For in him we live and move and have our being." Our relationship with Christ is more intimate than anything. We don't merely follow Christ. We're in Christ. We're one spirit with Him. We're not followers, we're friends. 

You’re free to fail. You’re free to mess up. You don’t have to get it right in order for God to accept you or love you. That’s what’s so radical about the gospel: it’s not about you! You don’t have to perform perfectly in order to be loved, accepted, or pleasing to God. The pressure’s off. (Romans 11:29)

You can’t defeat your struggle with sin. And God doesn’t want you too. Jesus doesn’t tell us to defeat sin; He invites us to rest in the victory over sin that He’s already accomplished (1 Cor. 15:57). So how do we move forward when we get tempted? And how do we deal with our constant struggles? 

Your suffering and pain is not because of your lack of faith. As children of God, we each have been given faith as a gift (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 12:3). We don’t need more faith. How do we trust God in difficult times? 

Why do we exist? What is the meaning and purpose of our life? 

Jesus offers us Himself. Not “5 steps to rest” or a “four-fold path to peace” or a list to obey in order to achieve rest for our souls. Jesus wants to give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30).