Just about every human agrees that being a good person – doing kind things for others, being honest, working hard, etc. – is important. And this is true! But the problem is when we begin using these good things as a way to give ourselves value and try to locate our identity and meaning in these things, because when we examine ourselves closely and honestly we find that our words and actions can’t carry the weight of our own self-perception.
There is nothing we do, think, or say that is not to some degree turned in ourselves. So ultimately, we need an identity from someone else who is able to carry this weight, and the only person in the history of the world who has been able to do this is Jesus Christ.