From Good to Grace

Why am I so burnt out on church?

What does it mean to be a “good Christian”?

Is it enough to just believe in Jesus?

Where does the gospel end and individual conviction begin?

Why do I feel like what I’m doing is never enough?

Why am I consistently jealous of or competitive with other Christians?

What’s the point of all this?

At one time or another, most of us have asked one of these questions. As Christians, we “know” the clear gospel, that Jesus died for our sins, making us accepted to God and giving us the gift of eternal life to all who receive Him, but after that sometimes things get muddied up.

What next? Often what’s next is that we find ourselves making a mental religious checklist of all the things we must do to be a good Christian. As we grow older The List gets longer. As we get married, The List gets longer. When we have children, The List gets longer. As new authors and books and movements develop, as we read more and hear more and look around more, The List gets longer.

The List wraps itself around my neck: Basically, unless I’m a TOMS-wearing, gluten-free, homeschool mom of 8 (6 of which are adopted from Africa), and my husband and I have weekly romantic date-nights, and I lead a Bible study and have one-hour quiet times from 5-6am each morning, and I make all my food from scratch and wear jewelry made my Noonday and drink fair trade coffee … there is just no hope of me being a good Christian woman. *smile*  (Note: I love all those things, by the way, it’s just fun to glob them all together into one.)

The List varies widely based on our geographic location and church culture, so even if you happen to conquer it all, you might move across town and have to start all over. *sigh*

So, if you’ve ever struggled with convictions, comparisons, and Christian-life complications (who of us hasn’t?) …

… meet Christine.

Christine Hoover is one of the most gospel-centered, grace-saturated writers I’ve ever read. What strikes me about Christine is her wholehearted devotion to elevate Christ, not herself. Never have I left her site (or her books), struck by her. She always points people to the Savior. She may not always have you laughing out loud or always bring you to tears, but she will always bring you to Jesus. (And that’s my highest compliment to give.) She writes in a clear, straightforward manner that’s refreshing. Her first book, The Church-Planting Wife came out just 6-months into our church-planting adventure, and let’s just say the timing was impeccable!

Her new book, From Good to Grace, exposes what she calls the “goodness gospel” — a subtle skewed version of the true gospel, which traps us into performance, pride, comparison, depression, and burn-out. She humbly and vulnerably shares her own struggle with perfectionism and performance, and how God gently let her out of this endless cycle and into a place of freedom, grace, and joy.

Theologically rich and saturated with scripture, Christine takes readers on a journey of identifying the “goodness gospel,” and exposing where it deviates from the true gospel of grace. She then leads readers on a journey seeing how this freeing gospel of grace leads us to receive, and then how it leads us to respond.

I especially appreciated the last section of the book, highlighting how the gospel leads us to respond. She uses such relatable examples of how finding our hope, security, joy, and identity in the gospel frees to truly love others and serve, pursuing our God-given passions and using our God-given gifts for His glory, without pandering to the flesh’s constant craving for people’s approval and praise.

For anyone looking for a book that will draw them back to the pure and simple gospel, that will lead them by the hand back to the simplicity in Christ, that will refresh them and bring the big picture back into focus, I highly recommend From Good to Grace.

{May your weekend be filled with His life-giving grace. Thanks for reading.}