Grace for the Ordinary Failure

No Condemnation

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul writes this at the summit of his great argument in Romans — and it applies not just to the before-and-after story of conversion, but to today.

The person who fails today is the same person to whom no condemnation applies today. The grace is not a one-time event that runs out.

The Return

When you fail in small ways — and you will — the practice is not extended self-punishment. It is the short return: acknowledgement, reception of forgiveness, and reorientation.

The Christian life is not a straight line of improvement. It is a repeated returning. The grace that was enough at the beginning is enough today. Receive it without earning it.