I love Five Minute Friday – have I said that lately? I’ve accepted the fact that between revising the manuscript for my first book (releasing spring 2016 by Crossway on the topic of finding healing and freedom from shame), and being at home 24/7 with my 4-year-olds during the summer, “Five Minute Friday” posts are the extent of my summer blogging schedule.
Here’s this week’s prompt: “try.”
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photo from kokoamag.com
Try feels like a law. Try harder … to be better, to run faster, to exercise more, to eat healthy, to parent calmly, to love fully, to be compassionate, to fight against injustice.
“Try” is a taskmaster, telling me that better is always up ahead, and that I haven’t ever quite made it. It’s like a finish line of a marathon continually being moved ahead a few miles, just when you round the corner and get a glimpse of it.
“Try” tends to be the staple of the church, the way we seek holiness and love.
But “try” doesn’t get you anywhere but discouraged.
Maybe that’s the silver lining of “try.” When I try harder to be better, to love, to embrace, to live according to who I know I am called to be – I forget that it’s not about my effort. It never has been. I can’t save myself. And I cannot make myself holy.
Jesus rescued me from “try” at the cross. Galatians 2:20-21 says that “if righteousness could be gained through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” It hit home for me the summer of grace between my sophomore and junior year of college. And I have to return to this beautiful, soul-liberating truth of grace that saves and grace that sustains and GRACE that will bring me home.
Try doesn’t cut it. Grace frees me from “try” and transforms “try” into “trust.” Trust that God did it ALL at the cross, and rest from “try” – trust that it has been finished, and that “the life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
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hidden glory 
Great stuff, Heather! I have learned to lean into grace and not rely on my own strength to get it done but His righteousness working in me. I love that line: “Grace frees me from “try” and transforms “try” into “trust.” Good stuff! Stopping by from FMF ~ Happy Friday to you!
Happy Friday to you, too, Rachel! Thanks for stopping by.
So great, Heather. No, we can’t make ourselves holy, can we? Funny how we try at that one, because it’s one we can really skew in the effort, right! Grateful for His balm of grace. Congrats on your upcoming book release – how exciting!
We try sooo hard, don’t we? But generations of redemptive history illustrates the futility of trying to be holy without Jesus. Thanks for stopping by.
speak on sister.
So true . . ., as we “try” in our own limited wisdom, the more frustrating things can become. When we release ourselves to trust God, then he gets the job done and we’re ok in the end. Thank you for the encouragement.
Love it Heather! REally hits home about trying vs trusting!!
Beautiful post! I’m so glad I found your blog. I love the truth you shared about the power of grace. God really set me free when I learned the truth about grace several years ago. Oh, I had been serving the Lord for years… but I was trying too hard to be perfect and never able to meet my own expectations. The freedom of realizing that Christ has done it all! He finished His work on the cross, and I was a part of that work. 🙂 Blessings! Tasha (visiting from FMF)
Love it! If you want a pair of fresh eyes to look over your manuscript too, please let me know. It’s a bit of what I do 🙂 . I, too, am well acquainted with shame
Thanks so much for the offer! I’ll let you know –
I loved your take on the word…So very true…”Try” feels too much like work when we are already overburdened most days…Lovely post…