You know you don’t understand God’s grace when you:
- Live with a vague sense of His disapproval.
- Feel sheepish bringing your needs before Him when you’ve just failed Him.
- Think of His grace as something that makes up the difference between the best you can do and what He expects from you.
- Feel you deserve an answer to prayer because of your hard work and sacrifice.
- Assume that 1 John 1:9 no longer applies to you now that you’ve sinned so many times you’ve used up all your credit.
- Feel more confident before Him if you’ve been “faithful” with your Christian disciplines (prayer, quiet time, witnessing, etc.)
- Can’t honestly say you see yourself as “blameless” in His eyes.
- Aren’t experiencing consistent peace and joy in your Christian life.
- Don’t really believe He likes you.
- Can think of someone you look down on.
- Shy away from asking Him for things because you think it annoys Him.
- Haven’t recently been tempted to go ahead and sin because you know your performance has nothing to do with your standing before Him.
- Think of the Christian life as “the cost of discipleship” rather than the chance to experience an unending supply of His goodness toward you.
- Fear that the day may not go as well as expected because you missed your quiet time.
- Assume you can do something to make Him love you more or less.
- Believe you’ve been called into His service because of your worthiness or qualifications.
From the inside flap of Jerry Bridge’s book, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love. Purchase from Amazon here: