I grew up in a wonderful Bible-teaching church, filled with loving teachers who taught us from God’s Word. But in my mind, our good deeds seemed to be measured by how many Bible verses we read (or memorized), whether or not we attended Sunday school every week, if we could check off the boxes of daily prayer and Bible reading, and if we gave our offerings.

Don’t get me wrong…all of those are good, and we were taught well! In fact, the Bible encourages us in each of those disciplines. But when we allow those things to become our standard of worth (how good a Christian we are), we slide off the rails of grace and onto the tracks of legalism. That is a tough place to live!

Some say grace is dangerous because it leads us to do whatever we want to do, seemingly without penalty. But what does the opposite yield? Doing whatever we want to do, thinking we can get by without penalty!?! Grace is an interesting thing, governed only by God’s goodness. The key is relationship to the Grace-giver! You see, once we enter intimate fellowship with Him, we are free to do as we please, but our desires are yielded to Him! I don’t have to please the Lord…I want to please the Lord. That is the fertile soil in which grace thrives. Plant yourself there!