Salvation is free — the process is costly.
After we receive Jesus, there’s nothing more required of us to be righteous or get into Heaven. Nothing! Does that sound like heresy? Like I’ve lost my mind? Stay with me—because what I’m about to tell you will either set you free or make you really uncomfortable. Either way, you’re gonna move!
Do you ever get through a day, a week, a month, or even a year, and feel like time slipped away? Things were commin’ at you from every direction, and you didn’t get around to hangin’ out with the Lord? Maybe you identify with these statements: My “Year Through the Bible” plan is going great—I’m only 10 weeks into the year and 47 weeks behind. I’ve started more Bible-reading commitments than I’ve started diets, and my success rate’s about the same with both. Yeah—Me too!
The struggle is real! Time and busyness can take their toll on our relationship with the Lord. But here’s the good news: if it were about what we could do, He wouldn’t have done what He did. He gave us what we could never attain on our own. While our investment in relationship with Him is paramount and should always be our priority in love, our acts and deeds will never give us right standing with Him; He did that with the finished work of the cross. Our debt has been paid in full.
There’s a religious mindset that wants us to punish ourselves, and it robs us of peace. That just ain’t right! Jesus said, “My peace I give you; not as the world gives.” That peace means that all is well on every front in our lives. In the Old Testament, He declared His name as Jehovah Shalom: the God who is our Peace. Peace isn’t the absence of troubling circumstances, mistakes, shortcomings, or missing the mark—it’s the presence of a person: Jesus!
We have become the righteousness of God in Christ. Signing up and agreeing to salvation is 100% free! It’s the process of redemption that costs us everything.
Please don’t beat yourself up for failing in what we deem to be a successful day of relationship with the Lord. There is a profound truth in what Jesus did for us. He lived a perfect and sinless life. Why? Because there would be no way we ever could. He became our substitute! This is why we are the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God IN CHRIST. Working harder to please Him is actually an exercise in fruitlessness—it denies that the Old Covenant was fulfilled in Christ. There is no weight on us to do what He has already accomplished, and any attempt to do so is to count His blood as a common thing.
The truth is that what costs us everything is allowing Him to be Lord. You might be saying, “Wait! What are you talking about?” I’m glad you asked. Allowing Him to be Lord means that we have given Him the reins to our lives! We have committed ourselves to His rule! When HE is Lord, He is BOSS! And when He is BOSS, we are worked into who He called us to be.
Years ago, I learned a profound truth. I was well seasoned in ministry at this point, and my pastor, AT, and I were dealing with a situation where someone was walking away from their call and place in the body for something else. The details aren’t important, but the Holy Spirit-inspired statement in the midst of that chaos stuck with me for life! It was the true heartbeat, grace, and the goodness of God. AT said to this person, “I know you’re gonna be okay, because if God has your heart, He’ll get your feet where they’re supposed to be.” WOW! I thought. It changed my perspective completely!
If grace is grace, and we have received it and given ourselves to Him, then we have already given up everything. As I said in the opening, there is nothing more required of us to be righteous or get into Heaven. That means when we make this agreement with Him, the process of our redemption begins. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, we have been saved, are being saved, and ultimately will be saved. This process of redemption is removing everything we once held as valuable. The reality is that we committed to that exchange when we accepted Him as Savior! It’s just being worked out through the course of our lives, and that part doesn’t always feel easy. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
I would never tell you to relax or that there’s no need for you to put in any time or invest in your relationship with the Lord. That is not the point I am trying to make. By all means, endeavor to do so. But don’t live in guilt or shame when you miss; that’s why Jesus did what He did for you. When you said yes to Him at the point of salvation, He took you seriously. It’s like enlisting in the army—you are gonna go through the WHOLE PROCESS willingly, or be dragged around the mountain because of your commitment. I’d prefer to do it willingly; it’s much easier.
So lean into grace! Our only cost is simple trust in the price He paid. What an affordable payment plan! Jesus calls us to come to Him and find rest. All that is required is our simple trust in the process. According to Romans 8, no matter what is going on, He is always at work in our lives for our good and His glory, even when we feel like we are floundering. Every time you feel like you are falling short, tell yourself He made an allowance for this. He paid the price for all of my shortcomings, before and after salvation. We have received the redemption process, and one way or the other, hard or easy, we are redeemed.
Matthew 11:28-29 MSG
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
There is no more condemnation to those who are in Christ. In Him, there is no longer any religious burden or guilt, only the price of the unforced rhythms of grace working out the process of our redemption through love.
In the passionate pursuit of His Kingdom,
Pastor Jason
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