I was born and raised in a christian family, where my parents (and the oh so many sunday school teachers) taught me about Jesus and all the other characters in the Bible for as long as I could remember. For a long while I thought Christianity was about heaven and hell. That following God was because we didn’t want to end up in hell. 

For so long I tried keeping the ten commandments, and tried to be perfect for God. I looked at the Bible as a set of rules. I thought that as long as I kept the rules and commandments, I will be blessed and if I don’t then I will not. Everytime I sinned I felt like I failed. I felt condemned. Though it seemed that my life was about God, looking back it’s obvious that it wasn’t. I prayed for MY life, for God to bless ME and basically I treated God as a wish-granter. 

Is God good based on human performance? Does God bless us based on our works? 

A few years ago, God opened my eyes to see His grace. He made me see that this life is not about me. God is good because He is God. I realised that my strive for perfection was a lie because what human can ever be perfect? He showed me that Jesus paid for all my sins on the cross 2000 years ago and declared that “it is finished”. 

By Grace, we have been saved. By Grace we are free. 

No longer do I feel condemned. Because when God sees me, He sees Jesus, who has paid for my wrongdoings, who resembles that Perfection God seeks in us. It is only by Jesus we are perfect. It is only by Him we can be saved for eternity.

Today, my view of ‘Christianity’ differs greatly from what it was three years ago. Christianity to me is not about religion, it’s not about following a set of rules. It’s about a relationship with Christ, a way of life. Once I understood the message of the gospel, the true meaning of Grace, I don’t live my life striving for that perfection anymore. I’ve shifted the focus onto God, and God alone. My obedience is purely out of love, not out of motivation.  By living this way, I understand now that my life is about HIM. 

We cannot work for salvation. We do not earn salvation. It is a gift. :)

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”. - Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV