‍Devotional from Pastor Tim

Grace often raises eyebrows—not just in the world, but even more so in the church. It sounds scandalous: You mean I don’t have to read my Bible to be close to God? I don’t need to pray more to be accepted? I don’t need to behave better to be forgiven? That kind of grace seems too risky, too easy, too…free.

But that’s the Gospel.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that our performance determines our position with God. The lie from the garden still lingers, that we can be like God by our doing. That if we do more, we’ll be more accepted. But the Gospel reverses that equation. It declares that we are already accepted—not because of what we do, but because of what Christ has done. Jesus has set us free from a performance-based acceptance to an acceptance-based performance!

Does behavior matter? Of course. But not for acceptance. Behavior matters because it expresses the truth of your new identity. You don’t live differently to become someone new—you live that way because you are someone new. When we trust that we are fully loved, forgiven, and united with Christ, our attitudes and actions flow from that truth. No longer trying to earn something, we’re free to express the life we’ve already received.

Grace doesn’t lower the bar, it changes the foundation.

He predestined us for adoption to sonship through JesusChrist, in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of His gloriousgrace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.  Ephesians1:5–6