As a Christian, you live under grace. You are no longer under law. Sometimes, it takes a long time for our minds to catch up to this truth. That was me. I had a law mindset for many years. What that meant was this: love and acceptance were to be earned. These were the rewards for being good and doing good things. Talk about faulty thinking! It's impossible to earn God's love and acceptance.

I wasn't living up to my end of the bargain under that law mindset. I kept falling flat on my face time and time again. My constant failures filled my mind with doubt. How could God love me? Maybe you've experienced this same kind of doubt.

If so, you are not alone. Many believers today are plagued by doubt. For the vast majority, it is their legalistic thinking that keeps them from truly knowing that God loves them. The way to change that mindset is to understand the purpose of the law.

The law was not given to save us. It doesn't have that power. The writer of Hebrews described it as "weak and useless" on that front. What it does do is judge us, condemn us and show us that we are spiritually dead. And that is where it leaves us. Once we understand our condition apart from Christ, the law has done its job.

Jesus saves, not the law. He saves us by grace. Once he does, we are no longer under the law of sin and death. We are under grace. And in this Grace we see that God's love is real and true.