Unconditional

I've recently thought about how much of life is about conditions. Our daily decisions are often based on conditions of that day, which always vary. Certain biological properties of cells are different based on the conditions of their surrounding environment. The most evident manifestation of this in my life is with earning or achievement. The way our world runs is that...You reap what you sow. You get what you worked for. If you do this, then you will receive this. As a new graduate student, I feel the pressures of this daily. We are so trained to think of things as conditional, rather than absolute, and many times rightly so.

However, I have come to understand my standing before God is completely unconditional. I am learning that my relationship with Jesus Christ is entirely dependent on Him, and what He has done. He only asks me to believe. Anyone can believe. As scripture says, we are to believe like little children. It does not require a certain intellectual capacity, moral resume or work ethic. Believing is not something we stir up within ourselves. I've tried to believe harder, and it only shows me how I am a failure at something else. Believing requires trust, which is simply relying on another. That other is Jesus Christ.

The beauty of the grace of Jesus Christ is that it was already paid for. It required no 'if, then' statement. The rest is history. It miraculously transformed my heart to see Jesus on the cross and to believe in Him; to realize I couldn't get it done myself; to be forever grateful for rescuing me from the hell I deserve. The unconditional aspect of God's grace towards me now is what I know will sustain me. This is an absolute that cannot be touched.