In this episode, I share more about how this truth has played out in my own life — and the steps you can take to make it real in yours.

👉🏻 If you’ve been striving to earn God’s love through specific works, or avoiding sin, or other benchmarks, then you’ve been carrying a massive weight on your shoulders.

Everything is up to you, isn’t it? The burden is on you alone and it’s constant; it never lets up. Even if you think you’ve done well today you’re already worrying about tomorrow.

He wants you to experience breakthroughs – not crushing burdens. Especially when it comes to basking in His love.

📌 I’m not saying that a relationship with God ensures that we have a smooth, carefree life.

Nowhere in the Bible does God promise that.
In fact, God’s Son and a member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, says this in John 16:33 (MSG): “I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
Because this world is broken with sin, we will experience hardship, challenges, losses, etc.

✅ What I am saying, however, is that God isn’t calling you to carry crushing and unnecessary burdens.

📖 Nowhere in the Bible does God say that we need to earn His love by being good enough (whatever that looks like).

How incapable we are of freeing ourselves from sin
How badly we need God’s grace
And how God, knowing that, sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins to make a way for us to be freed from sin, death, and a fractured relationship with God

How holy, just, patient, kind, gracious, merciful, and loving He is – among other things.
Sending His one and only Son, Jesus, into human history to die for our sins (something Jesus did willingly and lovingly, btw) is the biggest example of God’s love for us.
John 3:16-18 (MSG) says, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”
God didn’t send Jesus to play the shame and blame game; He did it to provide you and I with a path to freedom.
Freedom from:

Being enslaved to sin
Harmful mindsets and behavioral patterns
Finding our worth and value in things other than Him
Trying to atone for our sin ourselves
A fractured relationship with God
Eternal separation from God. (God is holy, meaning 100% without wickedness, which means we’re not able to spend eternity with Him outside of accepting the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.)
And, yes, trying to earn His love, forgiveness, provision, etc.

He’s loved you even before He created the world – let alone sent Jesus into human history.

Ephesians 1:4-6 (MSG) says, “How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.”

Because God’s love is already yours, whether you currently feel deserving of it or not, He wants you to shed the unnecessary burdens that are crushing you and actually keeping you from His love.

💪🏼 In the Bible, religion is when humans try to earn God’s love, favor, forgiveness, provision, etc. through a man-made list of works, tasks, rules, or systems.

Instead of simply accepting and sharing the gift of God’s love – religious people create their own system. One that creates burden instead of freedom.
This was happening among the Jews while Jesus was on earth.
This is why in Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG), Jesus said, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
That sounds heavenly, right? (No pun intended!)
This is a God who loves you and wants to rescue you from a weight that was never meant to be yours.