I wanted to share something, but before that ... the quote at the top right hand corner caught my eye as I was reading your post:
"To avert from men God's wrath
Jesus suffered in our stead;
By an ignominious death
He a FULL ATONEMENT made
Is your only hope his death?"
John Huss
Let me throw out a few points as I think:
1) Who can tell me God is not pleased with me? My Pastor?
2) Those few different churches, if they really state upfront that God is pleased with us regardless of what we do (and I suppose, from your post, that you are thinking in terms of sin?), there could be a problem. But we do not have enough information on what was the exact message and the context it was framed.
3) Actually your post makes me think about how God's love is always encountered by a Christian, in terms of sin. Or is it SIN. Or is it a subconscious rebellion, out of sheer desire to reject the very God who is loving, holy and just?
4) Maybe it is the right time for you to explore the riches of the bible available in bazillion versions to suit your taste, read the love letter of God (ok, a mushy way of saying THE BIBLE) and get to know Jesus and what he accomplished. Maybe it is the Holy Spirit leading you into the wilderness to get a timeout from "the few different churches". In the wilderness, you come face to face with God, there is no one else' voice louder than God's. Or so the Israelites learnt. Or did they. Then you can come to a revelation of the wonderful story of the history of redemption started and to be ended by God. We all know the ending (spoiler alert).
5) I think it will be very hard to short-circuit one's way to God's inner circle of pleasure (merely and I stress merely) by one's dealing with sin and good behaviour. But it is a useful message as a system of control. As far as I know, salvation is not our KPI (Key Performance Indicator, in case there is another context). There is a bigger battle complicated by man's inner desire and tendencies(which is very easily enticed by Satan with goodies).
