I’ve been thinking a lot about grace lately. It is a concept I have always struggled with. I mean, I know salvation is by grace…not by works lest any man should boast. (I grew up Southern Baptist, after all!) But I am constantly catching myself working. Do I read my Bible because I love God and want to know Him? Or because I think I am earning “points” with him? Do I treat people with kindness because that is how God treats me, or because I want people to like me? How seldom do I really just rest in the grace God gives me?

My pastor has been teaching from the book of Luke on Wednesdays, and last week he spoke on the parable of the prodigal son. He brought out something I have never considered: that when the son returned, the Father didn’t just let him in – the Father was waiting for him, watching for him. And when the Father saw his long lost son, He ran. Our pastor described the Father lifting his tunic so his feet were freer, racing down the lane, completely unconcerned that he might look foolish. His joy in seeing his lost son return home was greater than any concern he had about what others might think.

This is grace. This is how God sees us. How He sees me. The Father isn’t sitting in the house, considering whether or not I have been “good enough” to earn His attention or His love. He doesn’t meet me on the lane as I return and tell me all the ways I have failed. He doesn’t give me a “To Do” list that I need to complete to earn His favor. I have it. As a friend says, “I am God’s favorite!” And I am. So are you!

I know I spend WAY too much time trying WAY too hard. I get frustrated at myself because I don’t measure up. And I get frustrated with others because they don’t measure up, either.

How different would we be if we simply accepted the grace God offers us and lived in light of that? Loved in light of it? What would our relationship with God look like? Our relationship with others?

I don’t know about you, but I find it exhausting – all this working, all these unrealistic expectations. I want to do more than know about this grace. I want to walk in it – be embraced by it. I want to stop trying so hard to earn something that I have already have.