Grace: It’s Not About Perfect, It’s About Jesus

Ever feel like you’re not good enough? Like you’re constantly falling short, making mistakes, and just generally messing things up? Yeah, me too. It’s easy to get caught up in that feeling, especially with all the pressures of school, friends, and just figuring out life. But there’s this amazing thing called grace, and it’s totally awesome..

Think about it. Sometimes we try so hard to earn God’s love, like it’s a reward we get for being perfect. But that’s not how it works. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, a pretty important guy from way back when, put it brilliantly: We are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24, paraphrased). In other words, Jesus did all the hard work. He paid the price for all our mess-ups, past, present, and future. Grace is God’s free gift to us, even when we don’t deserve it.

It’s like this: imagine you’re learning to skateboard. You’re gonna fall, right? A lot. You might even break a bone (hopefully not!). But a good teacher isn’t going to shout at you and tell you you’re useless. They’ll help you up, show you how to improve, and encourage you to keep trying. That’s kind of like grace. God sees us fall, but He doesn’t give up on us. He picks us up, dusts us off, and keeps shouting us on.

The Bible talks about how “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). It’s not about how perfectly we follow all the rules, because let’s face it, nobody can do that! It’s about accepting Jesus’ gift and trusting that His love covers all our imperfections.

So, next time you’re feeling overwhelmed or like you’ve messed up (again!), remember grace. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about accepting Jesus’ perfect love for you.

Let’s pray

Dear Jesus, thank you for your amazing grace. Thank you that you love me even when I mess up. Help me to trust in your forgiveness and to accept your gift of love. Help me to get back up when I fall and to keep trying to follow you. Amen.