And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17).

Raised in a society which tells us we have to earn our way to good grades and then to a paycheck, we naturally expect a rewards system to be in place everywhere else. Some parents expect us to earn their acceptance and love. Some partners and spouses expect us to keep them happy. Remember those carousels where we tried to grab the brass ring? Isn’t that just like the cycle and goal of society’s expectations? Round and round we go, never really getting anywhere, that ring tantalizingly close but always out of reach. But we keep hopping back on, vowing to work harder this time.

Have we hopped on a religious merry-go-round, too, where what we do, how well we do it, and how often we do it equate to good standing with God? And if we’ve become used to a dad or husband or societal norms continually implying, or even saying, that we’re just not good enough yet, that has to make us wonder, how out-of-reach is God’s ring?

But Scripture shows us again and again that our good works don't cause God to hand us His ring of invitation. Consider those individuals God called before they obeyed: Abraham (a pagan), Moses (a murderer), the prophets, the disciples: Come, follow Me. So, grab the ring, and let’s hop off that particular carousel.

We have the ring of God’s call. Now what? Hop on another carousel to work for the ring of God’s love?

No; we already have that ring, too. Scripture proclaims, “God first loved us…God so loved the world.” And when He sends His son “whom He loves and is well-pleased” to redeem us from our sin, God permanently shutters the merry-go-round of performance-based acceptance. As J. D. Greear has written, salvation is not spelled DO; it’s spelled DONE. When Jesus spoke to the woman caught in adultery, He didn’t perpetuate society’s bar of works: “stop sinning, and then I’ll forgive you.” Rather, in a reversal of expectation, He said, “Neither do I condemn you; go now, and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11). 

Jesus is the better, the true gold ring. That brass ring only looks golden.

What carousel keeps you circling for someone else’s approval? While what we do might make someone else a little bit happier, take refuge in knowing nothing you can do will make God love you any more than He already does; nothing you have done will make Him love you any less. Hopping off that carousel might make hopping off another one easier.