December 21, 2017
“Just do it.” “Nothing worth having comes easy.” “Earn it.”
As athletes, we’ve been conditioned from day one to believe in our own power to earn what we want. From a young age, we’ve been constantly told that if we just grit our teeth, practice a little harder, spend a little more time, sacrifice a little bit more, we can become good enough to "earn it”. We can earn a starting spot on our high school team, we can earn media accolades, we can earn college offers, we can earn a starting spot on a team at our dream college. All with just a little bit more sweat…! As athletes, the value of hard work is so ingrained into our lives that we start to see it as part of our saving grace.
However, no matter how hard you work, there’s one thing you will never be able to earn: God’s love.
And that might sound harsh, but here’s the most beautiful thing about it: You don’t have to.
You don’t have to earn God’s love!!!
Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works.”
God’s love is given freely to you, not because you’re a good person or because you try not to sin, but just because he loves you.
Until just recently, I thought that being “a good Christian” was more of a set of rules than anything. I was under the misconception that if I was on my best behavior and worked as hard as I could to follow these rules, maybe someday when I died, God could look back at the things I had done with my life, and have enough mercy to say, “Yeah, I suppose that was good enough, I’ll let you into Heaven.”
Wow, was I way off.
Here’s the good news: God already had enough mercy. I have already been saved! My salvation does not depend on a list of the good and bad things I have done and will do. My salvation does not depend on how hard I work to spread God’s word or to do good deeds or to give to charity. My salvation rests on Jesus alone.
Jesus Christ, God’s only Son that he loved, came into the world, lived a perfect, sinless life, and then died the death that a sinner like me deserves. We are so broken and sinful. No matter how hard we work and no matter how much we try to earn it, we cannot fix ourselves. We cannot earn our own salvation, and that’s why Jesus was sent to take our burdens for us.
Titus 3:4-5 says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”
So take joy! And rest in the fact that you do not have to earn God’s love. This is one thing you will never be able to lose.
As athletes, we’ve been conditioned from day one to believe in our own power to earn what we want. From a young age, we’ve been constantly told that if we just grit our teeth, practice a little harder, spend a little more time, sacrifice a little bit more, we can become good enough to "earn it”. We can earn a starting spot on our high school team, we can earn media accolades, we can earn college offers, we can earn a starting spot on a team at our dream college. All with just a little bit more sweat…! As athletes, the value of hard work is so ingrained into our lives that we start to see it as part of our saving grace.
However, no matter how hard you work, there’s one thing you will never be able to earn: God’s love.
And that might sound harsh, but here’s the most beautiful thing about it: You don’t have to.
You don’t have to earn God’s love!!!
Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works.”
God’s love is given freely to you, not because you’re a good person or because you try not to sin, but just because he loves you.
Until just recently, I thought that being “a good Christian” was more of a set of rules than anything. I was under the misconception that if I was on my best behavior and worked as hard as I could to follow these rules, maybe someday when I died, God could look back at the things I had done with my life, and have enough mercy to say, “Yeah, I suppose that was good enough, I’ll let you into Heaven.”
Wow, was I way off.
Here’s the good news: God already had enough mercy. I have already been saved! My salvation does not depend on a list of the good and bad things I have done and will do. My salvation does not depend on how hard I work to spread God’s word or to do good deeds or to give to charity. My salvation rests on Jesus alone.
Jesus Christ, God’s only Son that he loved, came into the world, lived a perfect, sinless life, and then died the death that a sinner like me deserves. We are so broken and sinful. No matter how hard we work and no matter how much we try to earn it, we cannot fix ourselves. We cannot earn our own salvation, and that’s why Jesus was sent to take our burdens for us.
Titus 3:4-5 says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”
So take joy! And rest in the fact that you do not have to earn God’s love. This is one thing you will never be able to lose.