Awakening Grace

Why Trying Harder Doesn’t Work

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Lately, I’ve been hearing different preachers online call out sin and urge people to “man up,” live right, and take responsibility.

At first, some of those messages stirred me. They made me want to do better. But if I’m honest, I didn’t feel free. I felt heavy, like the weight was back on my shoulders. It felt like I was being handed a checklist with no power to actually live it out.

It got me thinking: Is this how Jesus meant for us to live?

I started wondering why some messages felt right in content but wrong in effect. The words were strong…sometimes even biblical…but they left me feeling like I had to fix myself before I could come close to God.

Have you ever felt that way?

You hear the truth, you recognize the mess in your life, but instead of hope, you feel pressure. You feel like a failure before you even start. And sometimes, in an honest attempt to do better, you try harder, make promises, and grit your teeth, only to end up right back where you started.

That’s when the Lord gave me a picture.

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Have You Ever Tried Cleaning Mud Off Your Windshield with Your Bare Hands?

Imagine you’re driving, and mud splashes all over your windshield. It’s messy, thick, and blinding.

Your first thought might be to wipe it off with your hands. But as soon as you touch it, it smears. You try again, and now it’s worse. The more you wipe, the more visibility you lose.

And that… is exactly what happens when we try to clean ourselves up from sin using our own effort.

The very thing we’re doing to try to fix the problem ends up making it worse. And now we can’t see clearly, not because we don’t want to, but because we’re using the wrong method.

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Calling Out the Mud Isn’t Wrong

We need truth. We need to know when we’re covered in the filth of sin. Scripture is clear:

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).

Sin is serious. And many preachers are faithful in pointing it out. They call people to repent, to turn, to walk rightly. And that’s good.

But here’s where it can go wrong:

If we preach repentance without grace, it becomes self-salvation. We tell people to “man up,” “try harder,” “be better.”

We call out the mud but never offer water.

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What Happens When We Use Our Hands to Wipe the Windshield

When we take matters into our own hands, even our “best” efforts become self-righteousness. As Isaiah said:

“All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).

Trying to clean ourselves up through willpower alone doesn’t just fail, it spreads the dirt.

• It leads to pride when we think we’ve succeeded.
• It leads to despair when we fail again.

Both outcomes are ditches on the side of the road. And neither are the gospel.

So here’s the question: If we can’t clean the windshield with our own hands—what can?

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In Part 2, we’ll talk about the only thing that actually cleans the windshield—and how grace is more than forgiveness. It’s power.

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“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

There is water. And it flows freely.