Salvation is not a process, and there is no formula for faith.

Growing up, I was taught that salvation came by saying the ABC’s (admit, believe, confess) and that faith was built through a system: reading my Bible, praying correctly, and obeying a long list of rules.

Throughout my young adult life I made many mistakes, didn’t read my Bible daily, and always felt like I was failing in this pursuit of faith.

In more recent years, at different churches, this approach has been reinforced. My shame and guilt were reinforced too.

When faith becomes a system, grace can feel unfair. It can be seen as an interruption. We expect life and healing to follow a predictable pattern, and when God shows up differently, it can be uncomfortable.

But looking at the life of Jesus, we see he doesn’t follow human systems. He bypasses them. Grace isn’t a reward for effort or obedience.

Think of the man from John 5, who had spent nearly forty years waiting to be healed at the pool of Bethesda. When Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be healed?” the man replied, “I have no one to put me into the pool.”

He was trapped by a system for decades, watching others get healed while he felt helpless (and likely hopeless).

Jesus didn’t assist him in the way he expected. He simply said, “Get up, take your mat, and walk.”

I can’t imagine what that man must have felt- surprise, disbelief, maybe even a little fear. But in that moment, healing came- through his encounter with Christ and by no effort of his own.

Grace bypassed every limitation the man had accepted as truth for nearly four decades.

Later on in John 5, we see the religious leaders were upset- not because the man was healed, but because it happened on the Sabbath.

When we focus on systems, God’s work can feel threatening or inconvenient. Rules can seem more important than miracles themselves. Jesus consistently points us back to relationship, not religion or legalism.

Life, healing, and freedom come from Him- not from “mastering the system.”

In John 5:37-47 we see that devotion to scripture does not automatically lead to understanding. The religious leaders had the text, but they missed the living reality the words were pointing to!

Scripture is meant to guide us to God’s heart, not to become a checklist or rulebook to follow.

I’ve experienced this in my own life, I thought I needed to stop doing xyz before I could regain my relationship with Christ. I thought I needed to read my Bible and pray daily for at least a week, consistently, before he would acknowledge me.

But God met me in my guilt, in my lack, in my sorrow.

And I realized- He wasn’t waiting for me to do the “right” thing, He was there all along. I had stunted myself from recognizing the relationship that was mine because I felt unworthy.

That’s the beauty of grace; it doesn’t wait for preparation, perfection, or performance.

God’s most transformative work comes from Himself, not from us.

So, let His grace interrupt your expectations, bypass your limitations, and invite you into life that you could never achieve on your own. Let His grace meet you where you are!

If you’ve been waiting by your own “pool”, I pray that you hear the words already spoken to you-

Get up. Take your mat. Walk.