IT'S EASY TO go on, speaking eloquent words about grace, especially when we don't have to go before God asking for it. We can whip ourselves into being disciplined, with the help of God and our own strength. What isn't easy is totally blowing it—putting on display our inability to be perfect. When you find yourself, dirty and messy and never whom you thought you'd be, that's when you understand grace. And when you understand grace, that's when you turn from the things that break you.

The most difficult part in all of this is that we have to go to God completely empty-handed and receive what can never be earned. It's stunning to finally get to the place where we believe that no matter how often we pray, fast, meditate, study, and so forth, we will never ever be perfect.

It's hard to live out a grace dependent life; we want to get to heaven by the work of our own two hands. It's a hard pill to swallow- being really helpless and needy before the sight of God. He is not for feeling good or for comfort, but rather for life itself. May we refuse to forget where we came from and what we are capable of.

This devotion is adapted from an article that originally appeared on RELEVANTmagazine.com.