I thought I had a pretty good understanding of what a good Christian life looked like. My relationship with God functioned a bit like Cinderella’s relationship to her evil step-mother. If I wanted His blessings, I had to meet His list of demands.
Read my bible.
Pray.
Don’t kiss boys.
The concept of grace was foreign to me in the beginning. How could God love me if I didn’t complete His checklist? But as I wrestled with this, I began to see that it wasn’t my performance which makes me righteous, but Christ’s righteousness and sacrifice. My debt had already been canceled when I first believed. I was free. I could rest in the grace I’d already received and in which I stand.
I’m a recovering legalist.
Today I still struggle to live in the freedom of God’s unconditional love. And this means I still need friends and a church that preaches grace. I still need to hear the good news over and over again and I need to observe it’s power at work in the lives of others.
That's why I'm so grateful for you, Sovereign Grace. Thanks for sharing your life with God with me. I know about God's love better because of our love for one another. I hope you can say the same.
May we continue to be a gospel-saturated community and may our grip on grace influence others who struggle with the same.
