Freedom From the Weight of Self-Effort

"Jesus came to liberate us from the weight of having to make it on our own, from the demand to measure up. He came to emancipate us from the burden to get it al right, from the obligation to fix ourselves, find ourselves, and free ourselves. Jesus came to release us from the slavish need to be right, rewarded, regarded, and respected. Because Jesus came to set the captives free, life does not have to be a tireless effort to establish ourselves, justify ourselves, and validate ourselves.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ announces that because Jesus was strong for you, you're free to be weak. Because Jesus won for you, you're free to lose. Because Jesus was Someone, you're free to be no one. Because Jesus succeeded for you you're free to fall. One way to summarize God's message to the worn out and weary is like this- God's demand: be righteous': God's diagnostic: 'no one is righteous': God's deliverance: 'Jesus is our righteousness.'  Once this good news grips your heart , it changes everything. It frees you from having to be perfect. It frees you from having to hold it all together. In the place of exhaustion, you might even find energy."

-Tullian Tchividjian, One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace For An Exhausted World, pages 36-37