I have been a regular church attender since before I was born. I grew up in the church and I love the church. However for most of my life I was trained in a thought process that urged me to live in performance mode. I was never taught that my works would save me. However, for most of my life I felt that I needed live my life trying to win God’s approval. There was this overriding theme in the teaching I heard that we needed to act right so God would bless us. Now don’t get me wrong about this topic. I still believe that a true relationship to God through Jesus Christ will have impact on your behavior. I also know it to be true that God is moved by our obedience and often rewards those that walk in that obedience. However, there is a real difference in living for God and performing for God.
Grace is God’s response to our deepest need, our need for forgiveness. Grace is defined as the unmerited favor of God. My youth minister in 1972 defined grace as God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. We do not deserve God’s grace but we desperately need His grace because the option beyond God’s grace is to go back to the Law. All this to say, our relationship to God is birthed by race, kept by grace and sustained by grace. His grace is undeserved yet absolutely necessary for life. His grace is sufficient for our every need and it will never fail. Our good works should be motivated by His grace.
In summation, everything we have in our relationship to God is motivated by His grace. In other words, it is all about His grace.