God Wants to Forgive You
Instead of thinking God just wants to punish you, maybe look at what the Bible actually says:
“But I, yes I, am the one who takes care of your sins—that’s what I do. I don’t keep a list of your sins. “So, make your case against me. Let’s have this out. Make your arguments. Prove you’re in the right. Your original ancestor started the sinning, and everyone since has joined in. That’s why I had to disqualify the Temple leaders, repudiate Jacob and discredit Israel.”
Isaiah 43:25-28 MSG
God handles your sin for you, and does not keep a list of your sins. He doesn’t keep track. The problem is, we do. So does the Devil. He tries to tell you that you won’t make it into Heaven because of what you’ve done.
If you’ve accepted God’s free gift of salvation (his grace / graciousness), you’re good. Salvation is not based on what you do. It’s based on what Jesus did. All your sins (past and future) are forgiven. They’ve been taken care of. Thinking God keeps track of the bad things you’ve done is a lie – according to the Bible. So go live in freedom because that is what Jesus has given you.
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Ephesians 2:7-10 MSG
Or, a bit more simply…
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:7-10 NIV
You are saved by what Jesus did – dying for you, taking your place. He was the perfect sacrifice. You cannot earn salvation. There’s no way. Because of that, you can’t brag about saving yourself. It’s just Jesus. That’s it.