The Pastor's Pen

            In my formative years, I lived beneath a constant weight of performance. My walk with Christ felt like an endless checklist- dot every “i” cross every “t” and perhaps then God would be pleased. The inevitable result was stress, pressure, and an inner heaviness that my spiritual disciplines could not lift. My greatest battle was not with forgiving others, but with forgiving myself. The shadow of past mistakes and poor choices loomed large. I believed they were permanent blemishes that would forever distort God’s plan for my life. In my late teens, however the Spirit of God brought me into a deeper reality- out of religion and into relationship. I began to see that righteousness was not the product of flawless rule-keeping, but the fruit of a heart transformed by grace.