Today Don Rogers writes:

How many times have you as a member of a “church” heard: Do we have enough faith? Are we good enough? This may be something not preached from a pulpit every week, but the implication is there. If you are religious, chances are you see your standing before God  as dependent upon your earnestness in your religious life.

I grew up understanding in my head that “grace” means a free gift. If you asked me, I believed that we could do nothing to earn God’s grace and forgiveness. But I totally relate to Don’s words above. Only in recent years have I begun to grasp the reality of being loved by God without strings attached. I always thought those “strings” made everything work, and without them we’d just sit around doing nothing. What I failed to understand is that perfect love is much more motivating than fear and it’s associates, guilt and obligation.

Don continues:

Justification by grace is not about who goes to heaven and how you get there. I believe that this preoccupation with heaven came about in the Middle Ages when life was a tad tough and everyone, well almost everyone, looked forward to a time and place when things would be much better.  Almost always the term “Kingdom of Heaven” can be translated “Kingdom of God”, which Jesus said had already come.

Grace is not a new system for getting to heaven; it’s an invitation to life. God’s perfect love gives me the freedom to live in love, without fear, here and now.