“When we receive what Jesus did for us on the cross we are declared not guilty forever – it’s a permanent thing. We can let go of guilt and instead embrace grace.”

Bestselling author, counselor, and life coach Holley Gerth helps us break free from guilt and condemnation by accepting God’s love and grace into our lives. She shares encouragement from her book You’re Loved No Matter What.

We all paint our own picture of how much we are deserving, or not deserving of God’s love. However that isn’t what He had planned for us as believers. Holley reminds us of what we need to start believing to be true about God.

“I believe that by taking hold of ‘God is love, God is grace and God is also holy’ we can forget that part because it’s a little scary, but the reality of His holiness is what points us to our need for a Savior.

“Having that Savior is what frees us from guilt, is what frees us from shame, is what frees us from the condemnation we deserve without Him.”

So often we have a tendency to try and hold ourselves together on the outside, while striving for love and approval on the inside. But God’s desire is for us to allow His grace and love to flow freely into our lives.

“Knowing God’s heart and His character and most of all receiving His work, letting Him do it for us. Striving is about saying, ‘I’m going to do it for myself, and I’m going to make myself good enough.’ Grace is saying, ‘I can’t do it, I’m going to let Jesus do it for me.’”

We need to try to constantly remember that God’s grace and truth is given to us and bestowed upon us, without limitation.

“It’s a place that we come to at salvation first and then again over and over every time we realize, ‘I fell down, I made a mistake, I messed up, I need grace, I’m human, etc.’ Knowing that God is who He is and will do what He says He will do gives us security to keep coming back to Him again and again.”

God never keeps record of our wrongs. Similar to a parent-child relationship, Holley says that we need to frequently remind each other of God’s grace.

“We do need people in our lives who will be an example of God’s grace to us, who will be literally hands that reach out to us when we have messed up again, who will be the voice in our ears saying, ‘God still loves you.’

When we catch a glimpse of the character of God through our family and friends, it can also help us better understand how incredibly loved we are by Him, no matter what. Holley elaborates on this truth,

“That’s why we need the body of Christ because it can be hard to picture God, who we have not yet seen, giving us mercy again and again. If we can experience that through each other then it can become more real and we can understand how, yes, we are flawed but we are also deeply loved.”

Highlight: Accepting God’s love

You’re Loved No Matter What