Lately, I've found myself looking back on my journey of faith. Not just where I am today, but where it all began.
As a child growing up in church, I remember hearing a lot about God's judgment, the consequences of sin, and the importance of being good enough to get into Heaven.
The message I took away was pretty simple: Be good, or you're going to Hell.
Now, I understand the importance of teaching children right from wrong. I understand that sin has consequences. But there's a problem when we teach people about God's judgment without equally teaching them about His grace.
Eventually, we realize we're never going to be good enough.
We stumble. We fail. We make mistakes. We promise to do better, only to find ourselves falling short again.
And when you've spent your life believing that salvation depends on how good you are, eventually you start wondering why you should even bother trying.
After all, if you're going to Hell anyway, you might as well enjoy the ride.
That's a dangerous place to find yourself spiritually.
And I know, because I've been there.
For much of my life, I believed in God, but I didn't fully understand His grace. I knew the rules. I knew the expectations. I knew what I was supposed to do.
But knowing about God and truly knowing His love are two very different things.
Then came November 2019.
I was in my 50s when I heard a sermon called "Overrighteousness."
The message was about something that sounds so simple, yet it completely changed how I understood my relationship with God.
Keep your eyes on God, not on yourself.
Think about that for a moment.
When our faith becomes an endless examination of our own righteousness, all we see are our shortcomings.
We see every mistake. Every failure. Every sin. Every time we didn't measure up.
And the harder we try to make ourselves worthy, the more painfully aware we become that we aren't.
But when we turn our eyes toward Jesus, something changes.
We stop looking at what we haven't done and start recognizing what He has already done.
That's when grace finally began to make sense to me.
Grace isn't a reward for being good.
Grace isn't something we earn by attending church, following rules, or checking enough boxes on some heavenly scorecard.
Grace is God's gift to people who could never earn it.
And that includes every single one of us.
Ephesians 2:8–9 tells us:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."
Read that again.
It is a gift.
We don't deserve it. We can't purchase it. We can't work hard enough to earn it.
Jesus paid the price on the cross because we couldn't pay it ourselves.
And here's what I wish someone had helped me understand when I was a little boy sitting in that church pew:
God doesn't love us because we're good enough. He loves us knowing full well that we never will be.
That doesn't mean sin doesn't matter. It doesn't mean we have permission to live however we please.
It means that our desire to live differently comes from loving Jesus, not from being terrified that we'll never be good enough for Him.
Grace doesn't eliminate the call to righteousness.
Grace changes why we pursue it.
We don't strive to live righteous lives to purchase God's love.
We strive to live righteous lives because we've experienced it.
And when we stumble, grace is there to help us stand again.
I've come to think of grace as a life raft.
Imagine drowning in deep water. You're exhausted. You've been struggling to keep your head above the surface, but your strength is gone.
Then someone throws you a life raft.
You didn't earn that raft. You didn't deserve it because you were a better swimmer than everyone else. You didn't have to prove you could save yourself first.
You simply had to reach out and accept what was freely offered.
That's what Jesus did for us on the cross.
He offered us salvation when we were incapable of saving ourselves.
And that's why I believe we need to talk about grace more often, especially with our children.
Yes, teach them about sin. Yes, teach them about consequences. Yes, teach them about righteousness.
But please, don't forget to teach them about the incredible love and grace of Jesus Christ.
Because a child who grows up believing they'll never be good enough may eventually walk away from God.
But a child who understands that Jesus loves them even when they fall short has a reason to keep coming back to Him.
It took me more than fifty years to truly understand that difference.
And I can't help wondering how different parts of my life might have been had I understood it sooner.
But here's the beautiful thing about grace.
It wasn't too late for me. And it's not too late for you.
God wasn't waiting for me to become perfect.
He was waiting for me to stop looking at myself long enough to see Him.
And when I finally did, everything changed.
From the pasture, here's my thought for today:
Stop trying to be good enough to earn what Jesus has already paid for.
Keep your eyes on Him.
Because salvation isn't about how tightly you can hold on to your own righteousness.
It's about trusting the One who reached down to save you.
Grace isn't the missing piece of salvation. Grace is the very foundation of it.
And thank God for that.
🙏 God bless you from Dogwood Farms.
#ThePasturePulpit #DogwoodFarms #GodsGrace #SavedByGrace #FaithJourney #JesusChrist #Ephesians2 #ChristianTestimony #GraceNotWorks #FaithOverFear #KeepYourEyesOnJesus #ChristianLiving #FromThePasture