Most of us have learned that getting good results involves putting in the effort, first. This is fine, and there’s nothing wrong with honest, hard work. However, this doesn’t translate well into our faith life and how we perceive God. The cross removed the requirement that we must work to earn God’s blessings, but the world still hangs on to an Old-Testament mindset.
Our impression of God shapes how we receive from Him. We may have grown up mixing the old and new covenants, seeing God mainly as the punisher instead of the Father revealed in Jesus. This confusion keeps us stuck performing and trying to earn what grace already provided. Under grace, righteousness isn’t awarded for self effort but received by faith. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16).
No faith is required to live by the law, only blind obedience to a long list of rules. Chasing righteousness through rule-keeping puts us in condemnation. “And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin” Romans 14:23). We end up becoming keenly aware of our shortcomings and failures, because no one can keep all the rules. Miss one point, and you’ve blown it. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
Trying to change ourselves with lists and willpower doesn’t work. This law-based behavior and mindset bring a curse; the harder we try, the more we mess up and sin. “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56). Thankfully, Christ redeemed us from the curse by taking it on Himself. We’re now free from striving so that we can start believing.
We can be secure and confident about our salvation because Jesus dealt with sin once and for all. It’s no longer an issue in God’s eyes when He looks at the believer. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28). We stop making sin our main conversation and start beholding Jesus, because seeing Him releases the power that changes us.
Through Jesus, we receive love, acceptance, forgiveness for sins, and everything that makes life worth living. The law kept sin alive by keeping us focused on ourselves; by comparison, grace frees us by focusing Him. Condemnation then fades away and is replaced by peace and joy.
Once God calls us righteous, He treats us as righteous regardless of performance. The shift from doing to believing is one of the biggest changes from law to grace. “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38, 39). Grace doesn’t excuse harm but heals hearts and sets boundaries through the leading of the Holy Spirit; it meets us where we are but doesn’t leave us that way.
Jesus has declared, “…It is finished…” (John 19:30). Heaven’s doors are open. Internalizing this grace-based truth is powerfully transformative.
