Maybe the Problem Isn’t Your Faith
Why we find it so hard to believe grace applies to us
As we continue through Lent, we might have many moments of self-doubt and conflict.
But sometimes the hardest part is not seeing what needs to change.
It is believing that we are already met with love before anything changes at all.
This reflection is an invitation to pause, to be honest, and perhaps to let go of something you were never meant to carry.
A good cup of something warm is encouraged!
For over a decade, as a parish priest, I began to realise that people quietly struggled with something underneath their busy lives.
It didn’t matter who people were, what their background was, or how long they had been part of the church. Beneath everything else, there was one persistent belief many of them carried:
They were not forgiven.
They would say the words with us in church. They would hear the prayers. They would nod along to the promises. But somewhere deep down, they remained unconvinced that forgiveness truly applied to them.
And so often they tried to do something about it.
They attended church faithfully, volunteered, and took on responsibilities. Some gave more time, more energy, more of themselves, hoping, quietly, that somehow it might tip the balance. That eventually, they might earn what they believed they did not yet have.
As useful as that was for filling rotas, it wasn’t the kind of church I wanted. I lost count of the number of times I sat with someone and tried to tell them the same thing:
You are already forgiven.
Not after you prove yourself. Not once you have done enough or when you finally feel worthy of it.
It is already done.
And yet, for so many people, that was the hardest thing of all to believe.
