Attempts at self-salvation guarantee nothing but exhaustion.
We scamper and scurry, trying to please God,
collecting merit badges and brownie points,
and scowling at anyone who questions
our accomplishments. Call us the
church of hound-dog faces and slumped shoulders.
- MAX LUCADO, Grace
We used to have a hammock. We tied it up at the edge of the woods by the lake. The girls would jump in and play or read a book or just chill.
It meant rest. Ease. Time off.
Like grace. Isn’t it rest? Ease? Time off, too?
These paragraphs on grace by Max Lucado say that to me.
Stop it! Once and for all, enough of this frenzy.
“Your hearts should be strengthened by God’s grace,
not by obeying rules” (Heb. 13:9 NCV).
Jesus does not say, “Come to me, all you
who are perfect and sinless.”
Just the opposite. “Come to Me, all
who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28 NASB).
He invites us to come just as we are, not as we wish we were. Come when we’re tired, worn-out, and need to stretch out.
There is no fine print. A second shoe is not going to drop.
God’s promise has no hidden language.
Let grace happen, for heaven’s sake. No more performing
for God, no more clamoring after God.
Of all the things you must earn in life,
God’s unending affection is not one of them.
You have it.
Stretch yourself out in the hammock of grace.
You can rest now.
He’s got us.He’ll support us.
Now. Forever.
* * *
More from Max Lucado’s Grace:
Day 28 of . . .
