The Ledger of Grace

The Ledger of Grace

Understanding the mysterious math of redemption.

Personal reflections from a fellow traveler.  Not AA approved literature.  Shared in the spirit of experience, strength, and hope.

I spent most of my life trying to balance a ledger that never quite added up.
I multiplied my efforts, good deeds, milestones, and sacrifices—hoping one day the total will prove I’m worthy. But with God’s math, addition doesn’t equal redemption. Rather, it equals exhaustion.

Man’s math says, work harder, earn more, do better.
God’s math says, lay it down.

When I finally saw how far in debt I was spiritually, emotionally, and morally, I stopped trying to add anything else. The truth was simple: I couldn’t pay it back. Every self-driven effort only added another zero to my failure.

And then came grace.
Not as a deposit, not as a bailout,
but as a complete erasure of the balance sheet.

That’s how 2 + 2 becomes 0 in God’s economy.
My works, my will, my striving all canceled by a mercy I didn’t earn.
He doesn’t add to what I’ve done; He subtracts what I couldn’t.

The mysterious math of grace is the most unfair arithmetic in the universe
and the most freeing gift I’ve ever accepted.

Can you put down the pencil and let mercy balance your books?