In Need of Grace

"God doesn't grade on a curve; he grades on a cross. Trying to be good enough to earn heaven is like trying to jump to Hawaii from the coast of California. Everyone looks like an idiot, some drown, some get three feet, some get ten feet, but no one even gets close to Hawaii" (page 78). 

While the chapter four title is lengthy, (With Religion, there are Good and Bad People/ With Jesus, there are only Bad People in need of Grace) it pretty well sums up the content Jeff is trying to get across.  As the above quote from his book notes, there is nothing we can in our own effort to "make it" to those pearly gates.

This paragraph jumped out at me and resonated on a core level: 

My identity, my worth, and my purpose in life were

wrapped up in my behavior and earning others’ approval.

Because of this I sacrificed my life 

trying to make others think I was a good person. 

Who cares if I actually was? 

I just wanted others to think I was. 

All my energy was devoted to

keeping people’s perceptions of me in good standing. 

I wonder how many others behave this way. 

(Page 79)

It wasn't very long ago, in the middle of intense grief over the death of my dad, that I realized my entire life had been what Jeff had written in that paragraph.  I had become a people-pleasing, approval-seeking, reputation-saving person. I didn't mean to be - I had just learned to function that way from a very young age. Coming into an awareness of this has only been strengthened in the words I'm reading from Bethke's book!

"The paradox of the Scripture is that it calls us way more sinful than we think we are, and it calls us way more loved than we think we are" (Page 90).  We are all in need of God's grace.  We are all in need of His love.  He offers us both through Christ.  We don't need to take matters into our own hands, but rest in Him.  

And so let’s be done with the comparison game. Let’s be

done with constantly fighting for the higher moral ground to

stand on and look down on everyone else. Let’s be done with

thinking we can actually earn something that is impossible

to earn. Let’s stop trying to be perfect and righteous because

those are not the people God is looking for. God is looking for

people who can admit their needs and surrender to a Savior,

because if the Bible is any indication, it doesn’t matter how

messed up you are. If you love him, he can and will use you.

(Page 90)

Part of why this book is so powerful in my life, at this time, is because of the truth that he speaks to MY heart and soul about the difference between having an authentic relationship with Jesus vs checking-the-box performance-based religion.  If no other person is impacted by my reading and reviewing this book, I'm still not wasting my time!