Grace Changes Everything

We live in a world of transactions. You work, you get paid. You study, you get good grades. You're nice to people, they're nice to you. Everything is earned. Everything is deserved. Everything is based on what you've accomplished or contributed. So we often bring that same mindset into our relationship with God and assume salvation works the same way.

We think we need to be good enough. We think we need to pray enough, serve enough, believe enough, do enough to earn God's approval. We believe grace is something we receive only after we’ve proven ourselves worthy. And we spend our entire lives trying to tip the scales in our favor, to do enough good to outweigh the bad, and to make ourselves acceptable to a holy God.

But that's not grace. That's works. And it will exhaust you.

Here's what's happening in Christian communities right now: people are rediscovering the radical nature of salvation by grace alone. Some have recently converted to Christianity and are experiencing for the first time the shock of being completely and unconditionally accepted by God. Others have spent years in legalistic Christianity and are finally understanding that they don't have to earn what's already been given to them. And both groups are discovering something life-altering: grace changes everything.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Do you see what he's saying? Salvation is a gift.

Not something you earn.

Not something you deserve.

Not something you can work hard enough to obtain.

God gives it freely, not because of who you are or what you've done, but simply because of His character.

That's scandalous. That offends our sense of justice. That's why so many people struggle with it. We want to believe we can earn our way. We want to believe that if we're just good enough, disciplined enough, faithful enough, then God will love us. But grace says no. God loves you already. Not because you've earned it. Not because you deserve it. But because He is love, and love is what He does. In fact, it’s Who He is.

When you finally grasp this, you stop performing for God’s approval, and you start living from God's approval. You stop trying to make yourself acceptable and start accepting that you've already been accepted. Every day becomes a response to grace rather than an attempt to earn it.

This is the foundation of everything. Not your good works. Not your spiritual disciplines. Not your moral achievements. Grace. Unmerited favor. Unearned love. The mercy of God poured out on people who have done nothing to deserve it.

And once you understand that, everything else falls into place.

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." - Titus 3:5