For years, as a child, I missed the big picture of just how beautiful God’s grace really was.
Even after I trusted in Christ at the age of 12, I tried living to earn God’s favor and acceptance through my performance, rather than resting in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
I was working hard to achieve what I didn’t realize I’d already fully received at the moment of my salvation.
Thankfully, I came to better understand God’s gift of grace – not as something to be earned or kept, but as something to be empowered by to live the Christian life and become more like Jesus.
No one has ever been made right with (or closer to) God by keeping enough rules or being a good enough person. I came to realize that I wouldn’t be the first.
These realizations have helped me be a better parent by emphasizing different truths about God and his grace with my own children. Here are two of those truths.
God operates on a BLOOD economy—IT’S ABOUT HIS PERFORMANCE, NOT MINE.
God’s economy is not based on money, good works, or anything we can do. It’s based on blood.
Throughout the Old Testament and in the New Testament, sin is covered by blood. In the Old Testament, the repeated shedding of blood was a constant reminder of guilt and shame. But in the New Testament, sin was covered “once for all” with the sacrifice of a perfect and spotless lamb–Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God (Hebrews 7:25-27).
Thankfully, all four of our children have come to faith in Christ. This means that my children no longer have to live under the constant weight and reminder of their sin, like I mistakenly did. Instead, they get to live in the power and freedom of their full and complete forgiveness. Jesus Paid It All! This changes everything.
Once we have come to Christ, we no longer live based upon our performance—what we do for God. We now live based on Jesus’ performance—what God did for us.
God operates on an economy of GRACE—IT’S NOT FAIR, AND IT’S NOT MEANT TO BE.
Grace is God giving you what you don’t deserve. Salvation is a gift. It can’t be earned, it can’t be kept, and it can’t be lost.
When you put your trust in Christ and what he did for you on the cross, God saves you because of Jesus, not because of you.
Jesus was holy, perfect, and without sin. He took your punishment, so that God can freely give you what only Jesus deserves – God’s unconditional love, acceptance into his family, and eternal life in Heaven someday.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Because of God’s grace through Jesus, you can be made righteous, not because of any righteousness of your own, but Jesus’ righteousness graciously gifted to you (2 Corinthians 5:21).
I’m thankful that my children can live in the freedom that comes from knowing Christ, and not the bondage that comes from self-righteous attempts at earning God’s favor. It is important that we talk to our kids about this.
We don’t achieve righteousness with God; we receive it.
We don’t live for God’s forgiveness. We live from it.
We are not rule-followers striving to become really good people. We are Christ-followers striving to always become more like Jesus.
By his blood, and because of his grace, we can know and experience the love of the Heavenly Father, and then share that beautiful love with our children.
If you haven’t yet put your faith and trust in Jesus, or if you have questions, please reach out and let me know.
Nothing will help you be the godly parent your kids deserve more than knowing that the perfect parent, God himself, lives in and through you, once you know Christ as your Savior.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Godly Parent.
Featured Image by Ratna Fitry from Pixabay
Comments are closed.