Having performance anxiety that you’re not living up to Jesus’ example and God’s commands? Have you lost all motivation and sunk into depression because you feel you’re not good enough to get into God’s awesome future Kingdom when Jesus returns? Well, you’re reading the right blog then. We need to talk. God makes it very clear that with Him in our life, we don’t need to have performance anxiety. Let’s open up our Bibles.

We probably need to start with Romans 6:23, which says, “the wages of sin is death” (NLT). Back in Old Testament times in the Bible, God gave His people, the children of Israel, the Law of Moses, which was a set of rules that God required them to live by. The problem for us human beings though, is that laws and rules don’t really mix well with our sin nature that came because Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.

In Romans 5:13 Paul says that, “people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break” (NLT). Can’t break a rule if there is no rule to break, right?

Paul follows that up in Romans 5:20 by explaining, “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were” (NLT). Starting to feel that performance anxiety creeping back in? Feeling depressed because us sinners have no chance? So does Paul. In Romans 7 he says that when he learned about God’s Old Testament law, the Law of Moses, his sin nature made it impossible to not break those laws at times. He bemoans his sin nature and says that he wants to only do good for God but he can’t! He hates doing bad but he still does it! “Oh what a miserable person I am!” he cries “Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” (Romans 7:24, NLT)

Now that Paul has us hanging on every word and agreeing wholeheartedly with him he finally puts our fears and his fears to rest. “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25, NLT)

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (NLT)

For people who love God, our human sin nature is a heavy burden that makes us weary, because we fight against it and fail every day. But we thank God for sending us Jesus because in Romans 8 Paul explains that Jesus’ sacrifice frees us from the sin nature that leads us to death. The old law showed people they were sinners and made them feel wretched, but Jesus’ NEW law gives us rest from the burden of our sin nature.

It’s all summed up brilliantly in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (NLT)