by Matt Chandler
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Romans 8:15

Here’s what I’ve learned now after eleven years pastoring in an area pervaded by Christian culture: these people don’t struggle a whole lot with justification. They sort of think, Yeah, yeah, God forgives me. I know that. Now, whether or not they really believe it is a whole different issue. What I’m finding is there’s a ton of people who can verbally explain the gospel as though God is a just Judge who has pardoned their sin, but then what ends up happening is that they just determine to go trying to never sin again. What’s happened? Really, they’ve never made the turn in their understanding from God as just Judge to heavenly Father.
Here’s a bit of my wife Lauren’s story:
I grew up in a Christian home, trying very much to be a good girl. When I was eight, my relationship with Jesus was very simple, where you just go to church and pray. But entering the preteen and early teen years, I was really trying to figure out who I was. And looking back, I see that I always desired to look like somebody who seemed to have it all together. And then, as I got into college and then met my husband, I tried really hard to measure up to my idea of godly adulthood, and I thought, Okay, I’ve got to be a good enough wife and a good enough student, and so on and so on. And I was falling miserably short. So the Lord graciously let me fail. He let me be weak, He let me be frustrated and experience dissatisfaction in everything. I finally knew something had to give. I couldn’t live this way anymore. I had this obsession with my identity. And moving forward for me meant admitting that I was weak, admitting that I didn’t have it all together, and admitting that something was wrong with my heart. I have to admit, even though I’m a pastor’s wife, that I don’t have it all together. I need Jesus. I need His gospel. I need His gospel that saved me to also transform me and sustain me, because I’d started kind of just trying to do it on my own.

Thought to Remember for Today

Lauren would say she knew God loved her and forgave her, but then she walked out of that pardon to say, “Okay, now, let me earn it.” And she forgot to rest in the reality that God isn’t simply her just Judge but also her loving heavenly Father. And He’s that for you, too.

Fitzpatrick, E. (2016). Grace untamed: a 60-day devotional. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.