I don’t want you to just get into heaven. I don’t want you to just get across the finish line. I want to help you finish the race of life well. I want you to enjoy life, the abundant life — to figure out what God made you for and then do it.

How can you be sure you’re going to finish the race of life? Because of God’s sustaining grace. God doesn’t want to just save you. He wants to sustain you through life. He wants you to make it.

What is sustaining grace?

Sustaining grace is the power to keep on going when you feel like giving up. It’s the power to do the right thing when you don’t feel like doing the right thing.

There are many pitfalls in the marathon race of life. But regardless of what you go through, no matter what you face this year, you can count on God’s sustaining grace.

“My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace” (1 Peter 5:12 NLT).

In the Old Testament, priests did two things:

1. They had the right, privilege, and responsibility to go directly to God. They could pray and talk to God, worship, and fellowship with God. Everybody else had to go through a priest.
2. The priest had the privilege and responsibility of representing God to the people and ministering to the needs of other people (serving).

Those are the very two things that are true of you when you become a believer.

The Bible says that when Jesus died on the cross, there was a veil in the temple that separated the Holy of Holies, where God’s Spirit was, from where man was. Only priests could go behind that veil once a year. When Jesus died on the cross, God ripped that veil — about 70 feet — from top to bottom, symbolizing that there no longer was a barrier.

You now have direct access to God. You don’t have to pray through anybody else. You don’t have to confess through anybody else. You don’t have to fellowship with God through anybody else. Read your Bible, talk with the Lord, and fellowship directly with him.

You have also been gifted for ministry to serve other people. Every Christian is a minister — not a pastor, but a minister. Anytime you use your talents and gifts to help others, you are ministering.

“He saved us and chose us for his holy work not because we deserved it but because that was his plan long before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:9 TLB). Why did God save you? So you could serve him. A non-serving Christian is a contradiction.

How do you know what your ministry is? Look at your talents, gifts, and abilities. When you use those talents and gifts to help other people, that’s called ministry — nothing fancy or scary about it. It’s just helping others. Can you be a priest in a sales office? You bet you can. Can you be a priest as an accountant? Of course. Driving a truck? Sure. Anytime you’re helping other people in God’s name, you’re ministering.

Notice that three things happen:

God gives Jacob a brand new identity (Genesis 32:28). Essentially, God says, “I know you’ve blown it. I know you’re conniving, but I see in you a prince. Beneath all your emotional hang-ups, all your insecurities, all the stuff you don’t want anybody else to know, I see a prince.” God is saying that today to you: “Beneath all of your sins and hang-ups, I see a princess/prince. You can be something great. You can be what I made you to be.”

God blesses Jacob/Israel (Genesis 32:29). Deep down, we desperately want God’s blessing. If we want God’s blessing, we have to take the steps God requires of us.

God gave Jacob/Israel a limp (Genesis 32:31). Remember, when they wrestled, God dislocated Jacob’s hip. Jacob walked away with a limp, and it served as a daily reminder to depend upon God.

God does his deepest work in your life when he deals with your identity — who you are and the way you see yourself. You will always tend to act according to the way you think about yourself. So God does his deepest changes in your life by changing the way you see yourself.

He says, “Let me show you how I see you.” When you see yourself the way God sees you, it’s going to change your life.

In the Bible’s most famous promise, John 3:16, Jesus tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (NKJV). God promises we won’t perish if we believe in him.

God’s free gift of salvation is offered to everyone. It doesn’t matter your religion or cultural background. Jesus Christ died for you.

How do we receive this free gift?

The Bible says, “God says he will accept and acquit us — declare us ‘not guilty’ — if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like” (Romans 3:22 TLB).

Though anyone can acknowledge the existence of Jesus, the only way we can get to heaven is by placing our trust in him. You can’t trust Jesus unless you really know him.

It’s the difference between your head and your heart. Here’s an example to help explain that difference. I have the privilege of knowing many people, including some famous people. I know Bill Gates. We’ve spoken on the same platform together. I’ve sat on a couch and explained The PEACE Plan to him. I know Bill Gates, but I don’t really know him. He’s not a close personal friend, and I can’t say I really know what makes him tick.

But I do know my wife. We’ve been married for over 40 years. I know what makes her tick. I know the way she thinks. I know what she cares about.

When we talk about knowing God, it means having a real, living relationship with him. That’s what it means to trust God.