“How do you know you’re acceptable to God?”

I clearly remember being confronted with this question just over 20 years ago. We were interns in Japan and I was hosting a women’s Bible study. Beth Moore asked the question via a VHS tape and my immediate thought was, “I know God will accept me because he sees me trying my hardest.”

Beth’s response knocked the wind out of me, “Beloved (she probably said beloved, amiright), you can be sure he’ll accept you if you are in Christ Jesus. You are covered by the Son. When the Father sees you, he sees the perfection of the Son.”

I don’t think I heard another word the rest of the night.

It’s weird because I knew the truth. I had trusted Jesus and I was spending my days telling others about his grace. But there was a disconnect somewhere between what I knew and what I practiced.

Functionally I was putting my hope in my performance. I was living out the false belief that my worth is equal to what I do. Subconsciously I believed God and my friends and family accepted me because I was trying hard.

What a sneaky lie. What a fragile way to live.

The truth is, it is by grace we have been saved through faith. It is not our own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that none of us may boast (Eph. 2:8-9). Our acceptance is not based on us, but on Christ alone. We now live by faith in the Son of God, who loves us and gave himself for us (Gal. 2:20). We are hidden in Christ (Col. 3:3).

We are infinitely worthy because the Creator of the universe made us in his image (Gen. 1:26-27). We are unconditionally and forever loved because “he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2. Cor. 5:21).

It is finished.

There is nothing you or I can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less. His love is limitless and based on his goodness, not your performance or mine.

That is the best news today and every day. And on day 5 of Covid. Which is me. On my couch again—still—not being very productive. Omicron leaves no one unscathed! But thankfully, I am hidden in Jesus and I don’t have to prove my worth. I can rest in him.

#enoughaboutmebook

Author’s Note: I am indebted to Pastor Zach Nielsen in Madison, WI for the phrase used in the title to this post, “Nothing to Prove. Nothing to Lose. Nothing to Hide. Nothing to Defend.”