If you're avoiding sin and living morally so that God will have to bless you and save you, then you may be looking to Jesus as a teacher, model, and helper, but ironically you are avoiding him as Savior. You are trusting in your own goodness rather than in Jesus for your standing with God.
Timothy KellerWhen people say, "I know God forgives me, but I can't forgive myself," they mean that they have failed an idol, whose approval is more important than God's.
Timothy KellerSuffering is the stripping of our hope in finite things, therefore we do not put our ultimate hope in anything finite.
Timothy Keller