In the 4th grade Bible study class that I co-teach, the kids often equate pleasing God with being nice to people. They are good kids. They have been raised in Christian homes and they’re at the age where they want to do the “right thing”.

I want to help them understand that being nice, or “good”, is not the same as having faith in God. While God wants them to be nice, this can only be done properly when they love God first and more than anyone else.

The right thing is to love God so much that we want to honor him by how we interact with others. We must glorify Him. This is not necessarily an easy concept and many people do not understand the difference between having a heart for God and being conscientious.

If the kids don’t learn the difference they are in grave danger of growing up to be a nice secular humanist or atheist or pagan. They need to learn that God wants to be number one in their hearts and when He is, that makes it easier to love others and be nice.

Love the LORD with all your heart

As we studied David in 1 Samuel, they learned that God knows what is in a person’s heart. He chose David over his older brothers. David is described as “a man after God’s own heart”. David’s number one concern which he often expressed in Psalms, was his relationship with God and giving God glory. These both come from having a deep faith and love for God as a real being, not a vague moral concept.

God is our creator and we live because He gives us life. We can love, trust and obey Him because he made us and he cares about us.

Psalm 97:6-9[6] The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. [7] All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! [8] Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O LORD. [9] For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

Moral Therapeutic Deism

Mistaking being nice, or good, with faith is part of something called moral therapeutic deism that American Christianity morphed into in the 90s. Moral therapeutic deism is the belief that going to heaven is based on your good behavior. It substitutes God’s definition of and authority over sin and judgment with cultural relativism. It reduces God’s holiness, his justice, and his power to mere principles.

Too many people confuse politeness, social activism, and tolerance with being a Christian. They mistakenly believe that offending someone is the worst sin they can commit. So they put feelings above truth and righteousness. This obsession with self-censorship has made it nearly impossible to have honest relationships and has created an epidemic of intolerance of religious beliefs, self-righteousness, judgmentalism, and prideful hypocrisy. Social justice is not the same as the gospel.

The blending of Christianity with critical theory defined “social justice” in the past 10 years has increased the confusion of what God actually expects from us. If you only hear certain parts of the New Testament you may miss the point that God himself is to be the object of our worship and devotion, and without God, we are still dead in our sins even if we do good deeds.

God’s Authority is Absolute

For in God’s eyes, the worst sin is not being mean , it’s a lack of faith , which is considered rebellion. Lack of faith and fear of God is the root of sin. Jesus came to restore us to God, not just teach us to be nice. If you’re a nice person who doesn’t love God, you will be judged as an unbeliever.

Put another way, being nice without believing in God is dangerous because it makes you feel like a good person. We are all at risk of being deceived by our own pride in our “goodness” towards others. The truth is that our only goodness comes from Jesus.

When our sins have been forgiven, we are made clean. Prior to that we are not good, not matter how nice we act. Our hearts must be made new. We need the Holy Spirit of God living in us to be “nice”. Our goodness is a result of God’s mercy and Grace towards us!

Righteousness is about doing the right thing according to God, not the world. Yes, God wants us to take care of the poor, the widow, children, the sick, the stranger, and the prisoner in His name. But it’s wrong to pretend that sin is acceptable in God’s eyes. Speaking truth in love is nice and right. Refusing to call evil good demonstrates a righteous fear of God.

Fighting Goliath Today

In the well known story of David and Goliath, the focus is often put on how brave David was, instead of on David’s desire to avenge God’s name by demonstrating God’s power over Goliath. David was angry that Goliath was disrespecting God. Israel was paralyzed with fear and their king was impotent. God raised up David for this specific purpose, to glorify Himself through David. And he did the same with Jesus. And Jesus will fight the final battle against God’s enemies when he returns. Neither David nor Jesus was concerned with being nice to those who defied the authority of the living God.

1 Samuel 17:46 [46] This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

Let’s imagine what would have happened if David had been a woke college student when the Philistines lined up against Israel. When His father told him to go to the front to check on his brothers, he may have refused on the grounds that he didn’t have to listen to his patriarchal father. But if he had decided to go, he might have blamed Israel for their fate and joined up with the enemy.

Based on critical theory, Israel would be the oppressor and the Philistines were just reclaiming their rights. Woke David would have put himself in the position of judge and jury rather than considering God’s position and glory. Or maybe he would have tried to reason with Goliath or make him into an ally by compromising his own integrity.

Goliath was a real live representative of the evil that controls the unbelievers of the earth. God used David to defeat Goliath and Jesus defeated Satan. Now we are living in a different time. Now we fight against spiritual forces with the weapons of faith, the word of God, prayer, and by resisting sin and evil. We aren’t told to literally kill anyone who disrespects God . However, we should still have this same devotion, reverence and fear for our holy God, or even more since Jesus has won the ultimate battle .

Colossians 2:15

[15] He [Jesus]disarmed the [spiritual]rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/100/eph.6.12.NASB1995

The Narrow Way

Being nice, without true faith and fear of God, won’t get you into heaven. Only faith can do that. When you don’t have faith, you are REJECTING GOD’s AUTHORITY over you. This is sin. This is what Adam and Eve did. This is what Satan did. This what the pagans and Gentiles did when they worshipped other gods. This is what all sin stems from. Turning to other gods is sin. Making yourself your own master is sin. Thinking that your good behavior will save you is a delusion. Your sins must be forgiven.

Faith comes first . Only when you submit to God’s authority over your life can you begin to be in right relationship with him. Then everything else will fall into place as you daily abide in Him. Then you will truly be nice because of His righteousness.

Matthew 7:13

[13] “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.