Last time I told you my friend Jim’s vision of Jesus’ actions as mediator. Several readers sent notes saying how touched they were by the statement, “It’s okay. He’s with me.”
Jim clearly isn’t worried his encounter with God. He knows Jesus has him covered.
I wonder if those who follow Jesus often miss this simple assurance. I seem to hear so much guilt, so many folks striving to be good enough. It’s as though Jesus provided a simple target, and we’re completely invested in making it harder and harder to hit.
Sometimes I wish we’d make the core message a little more clear.
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You can’t be good enough. Nobody can. Stop trying.
God loves you. You are forgiven. Completely. Not because you earned it or because you deserve it. You don’t. It’s a gift, completely free, through God’s grace.
Jesus bridged the gap between you and God through His birth, life, death, and resurrection. You could never have reached across that gap. There are lots of theological notions about how that worked, but how doesn’t matter. What matters is that Jesus built a bridge you couldn’t build, and you cross it through faith in Him.
Your faith is a response to God’s grace.
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I wonder how many folks spend hours each week memorizing scripture and trying to understand theological intricacies, thinking those somehow get them closer to God. And in their hectic study and prayer, they miss grace.
Without God’s grace, nothing else matters. In the light of grace, all the rest is pretty insignificant.
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