Awakening Grace

Could it be… that what we’ve called obedience was really just behavior management?

That what looked like holiness was more about control than a changed heart?

We’ve been told to try harder. To do better. To clean ourselves up.

And we did.

But the shame didn’t leave.
And the struggle didn’t stop.

So what if the answer was never “try harder”…
What if it was… surrender deeper?


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Sometimes we forget:
Our freedom doesn’t come through performance or through following the law.

Even though the law is good, even though it was given by God… it can’t make us free.

The law is a mirror. It shows you the dirt. But it can’t make you clean.
It reflects what’s wrong… but it can’t make anything right.

And yet… how often do we try to scrub our soul with the same mirror that just shows us what’s broken?

Imagine someone pulling a mirror off the wall and trying to clean their face with it.

It doesn’t help.
It just hurts.

What we need isn’t a sharper mirror.
We need soap.
We need water.
We need a Savior — the only One who can wash us clean on the inside.


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Jesus said, “If you love Me, you’ll keep My commands.”

But what if that wasn’t pressure?
What if it was just a picture of what happens when love takes over?

Could it be that obedience isn’t something we force…
It’s something that flows?

Not out of fear, but from love.
Not from trying, but from seeing Him clearly.


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What about discipline?

It matters.
But where does it come from?

Because discipline without intimacy just creates performance.
And effort without identity just becomes religion.

Could it be that real discipline isn’t about earning, but about staying close?

Not striving to become… but walking in who you already are.


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Here’s something we don’t often say out loud:

Could it be that even our good works can get in the way?

That sometimes, trying to look holy actually makes it harder to become whole?

What if we’re using spiritual activity to avoid surrender?
Doing instead of becoming.
Performing instead of healing.

And what if trying to improve ourselves outside of faith isn’t neutral?
What if it’s sin?

Because Scripture says, “Whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)

Even well-meaning discipline, if done apart from Jesus, may only deepen our independence.
And if the root is independence, the fruit can’t be righteousness.

Because “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10)
The only righteousness that matters is the kind that grows from a heart rooted in Christ.


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Jesus told a parable about wheat and weeds.

When the workers asked if they should pull the weeds up, He said no.

Why?

Because in trying to remove the weeds, they might rip out the wheat too.

Could it be that what looks like sin is sometimes something God is still dealing with beneath the surface?

That trying to fix ourselves too soon can actually do more harm than good?

What if God’s not asking us to rip it all out right now…
But to trust Him with what’s still growing?


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And yeah… some people will abuse grace.

They’ll hear this and think it gives them permission to stay stuck.

But maybe the people who twist grace never fully understood what grace really is.

Because when you really see Jesus…
You don’t want sin.
You want Him.

Grace doesn’t excuse the sin.
It just takes the pressure off you to fix it without Him.


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Could it be that acts of sin aren’t the root problem?
Could it be that distance is?

And when we come close… the need to sin starts to fade?

Because love changes appetites.
And presence changes patterns.

The fruit of the Spirit is just that — fruit.
It grows from the root it’s connected to.

We don’t tie apples to a branch and call it an apple tree.
They grow out of what’s inside.


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So what does obedience really look like?

Is it about getting it all right?

Or is it about coming to Jesus when everything feels wrong?

Could it be that the most powerful act of obedience isn’t perfection…
It’s surrender?

Maybe it’s the person who keeps reaching — even after falling — who’s actually walking in the most faith.

Like a child learning to walk.
They fall. They cry. They get up again.

And the Father isn’t grading the steps.
He’s celebrating the reach.


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Could it be that freedom isn’t the absence of struggle…
But the absence of slavery?

That the gospel isn’t about managing sin…
But about revealing who you truly are in Him?

And if that’s true… maybe we don’t change by trying to behave better.
We change by seeing Jesus clearer.

Because you can’t stare at sin and become free.
But you can lock eyes with Him and forget why sin even had a pull.


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This isn’t permission to stay where you are.
This is an invitation to stop fixing yourself…
And come back to the One who already finished the work.

Bring the mirror.
Bring the dirt.
Bring the guilt.
The failure.
The habits.
The hurt.

He’s not asking you to clean it all up.
He’s asking you to bring it to Him.


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David understood this.

Psalm 51 was written after his lowest moment.

He didn’t promise to try harder.
He didn’t bargain with God.

He said, “Create in me a clean heart.”

He didn’t say, “Help me do better.”

He said, “Make me new.”

God never asked for polish.
He asked for surrender.


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So don’t pull up the weeds too soon.
Don’t rip out what He’s still redeeming.

Let the roots grow deep.
Let the healing take time.

Let grace do what striving never could.

That…
Isn’t just obedience.

That…
Is freedom.