The All-Access Pass

“In Jesus and through faith in Jesus we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Ephesians 3:12

If proponents of the world’s major religions described how their faith makes them feel, only followers of Christ could use the words “free” and “confident.” Muslims live in fear of an impersonal, unloving Allah who assures Paradise only to martyrs and ascribes obedience to the Five Pillars of the Faith as the best chance of entry for the masses. By discipline and devotion to a chosen icon of Brahman—the ultimate spiritual reality, Hindus seek to free their souls from the body’s bad karma through an almost endless repetition of reincarnations. Buddhism has no God who reaches out or to whom one is responsible. Only adherence to the Four-Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path offer hope of eventual freedom from our illusion of meaningless existence into Nirvana. Scientologists strive to eliminate their bad by being hooked to electronic cleansing machines (after handing over large amounts of cash.) And the Jehovah Witness at the door answered my question about her certainty of the kingdom with a wistful, “I hope so.”

We don’t have to wish. We don’t have to wonder. We know. We’re sure. We’re saved. “In Jesus and through faith in Jesus we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” No knocking knees. No hesitant steps. We may run, unhindered and unbound, into His ever-outstretched arms because the ticket we wave to get in is not our own goodness but His grace. It’s Jesus. “In Jesus and through faith in Jesus we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”

God holds out no hope that we will ever be holy enough to deserve a slot in eternity, and He’s not in the business of balancing our good and our bad. When Adam chomped down, our chance was blown, and no extreme effort or endless cycles can repair the rift. God’s Law isn’t a patterned ritual designed to get us right; it’s a reality check of Who He is and who we are not.

On our own, we are shackled and shaking, but in Jesus, we are free and sure. If you’re His, you’re holy – coated head to toe in the goodness and rightness of Jesus - always. Don’t be confused. God doesn’t say, “You can come to me for salvation because of grace, but, after you’re Mine, you can only come when you’ve been good.” For salvation and for all else, every day of our lives, we can come because of Jesus. “In Jesus and through faith in Jesus we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”

Run like you ran the first time – counting on grace, charmed by love.

Come freely.
Come confidently.
Come on.