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Dec 29, 2025 06:00am

You Didn’t Earn It—and That’s the Best News of All

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A little over thirteen years ago, I became a mom.

Hunter was fifteen years old when his dad and I began dating, and just two years later, he became my son when Shaun and I married.

A parent’s love for their child is hard to explain, isn’t it? You’d do anything in the world for them—to protect, to provide, and to show your love for them. Nothing they could do or say would ever change that.

You’d give your life in their place if you could.

And the most incredible thing of all is that they didn’t do anything to earn that kind of love.

It’s not about their grades, their performance on a team, or their behavior at home. You simply love them because they are yours. And they can’t do anything that would cause you to stop loving them. You may be angry with them for something, but the love remains.

When they hurt, you hurt.
When they struggle, you feel the suffering with them.
When they need help, you rush to their side.
When they pour out their heart, you give a listening ear.
And when they succeed, you celebrate with them!

Because they are your child, and you love them.

As we continue to study Galatians, we see a confrontation between Paul and Peter. What was the cause?

Peter was a Jew who had been saved by Christ and had shared the good news of salvation with other Jews. Paul had been called to share the good news with Gentiles. Peter recognized God’s plan to save all people—not just the Jews—and he welcomed Gentiles into the church. In their culture, Gentiles had been considered dirty and defiled by Jews, and according to their law, Jews would not associate with them, or they too would be considered defiled.

But Christ had changed all that.

The Gentiles were just as redeemed by Christ as the Jews who had put their faith in Him.

They were all God’s children.

A group of Jews insisted that any new believers must adhere to the Jewish law in order to be saved. When they came to visit, Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles, as he had been doing, and instead only kept company with these Jews. Paul called him out on it.

He reminded him of the truth of the gospel: that it is by faith alone that we are saved—not by faith plus keeping the law.

“Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” — Galatians 2:16

Paul’s words were truth. We cannot earn a spot in God’s family. He loves us and gave His life for us. We simply have to believe in Him.

We have a debt of sin, yet we can’t do enough to pay it off. Jesus did something we couldn’t. Christ paid our debt in full.

When we believe in Christ, we are made whole—righteous in God’s eyes. How? Because of His mercy—not giving us what we deserve—and His grace—giving us something we didn’t earn.

“For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”

Have you ever thought about that?

If I could do anything to earn my way to heaven, why then did Jesus have to suffer and die such an excruciating death? What would its purpose be?

There was no other way. This was how the Father would redeem mankind. And those that believe become His children.

Forevermore.

Nothing can change His love for us. Nothing can separate His love for us. Because we are now His children. Can you imagine that the love the Heavenly Father has for you is even greater than the love you have for your children?

It’s true.

He gave His life for you.

Do you know God as your Father? There’s only one way to salvation and that’s through Jesus Christ.

Let me show you more about what salvation is and what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus.

Go to follow.lifeword.org. We also have this free resource in Spanish at follow.lifeword.org/spanish.