You feel pressure to succeed.
To perform. To deliver.
There are obvious reasons for that. You need the pay check. Bills don’t pay themselves.
But that’s not the main reason it feels so heavy. None of us in life wants to be a failure. All of us want to be something. And that’s why for many of us work has become a way to prove we’re worth something.
Because we’re all looking for something to define us—to justify our existence.
But you don’t need to justify your existence, because Jesus Christ has already done it for you. That’s the Christian “Gospel.” That’s why it’s called “good news.”
Whoever you are. However you’re feeling. You are already justified. In two ways.
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First, in Jesus God has already taken away anything that could count against you. The Bible puts it like this (Psalm 103:12, KJV):
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
It’s gone.
But more than that, in Jesus God has also already given you “righteousness”, which is a certain declaration that you are perfect and valuable—a positive verdict (Romans 5:18, KJV):
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
You don’t need to do anything. God has already done this for you. This verdict was declared when Jesus died. It rests on what he has done for you. You have no need to work or achieve anything to earn it.
You have nothing to prove.
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Now, that doesn’t mean you don’t go to work. It means you can enjoy it. Your identity and worth don’t depend on how you perform. No matter what has been said to you in your life until this point: You don’t need to prove anyone wrong. Nor do you need to prove yourself right. Jesus has done this for you.
So you can just turn up to work, and enjoy serving others and doing something genuinely useful, whatever that work is. In fact, whether you work in a call centre or a clinic, the work you have is a gift God has given you to enjoy helping others. The Bible explicitly says this (Ephesians 2:10):
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Of course, if you walk through life as though God hasn’t forgiven you, made you perfect, and taken all the pressure off, then you won’t enjoy this gift you already have and all its benefits.
That’s why he gave you the church—not as a place to make you feel guilty—but as the place where you receive this forgiveness and righteousness that he’s already given you. And as you receive it you enjoy and are assured of it. That’s what faith is.
Come and receive this free gift. Be assured that your work doesn’t define you, so you can be set free to enjoy it:
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