👑 Scroll of the Crown: When Grace Feels Too Expensive

There are moments when the word “grace” sounds fake.

When it feels too light for the weight you carry.

Too clean for how messy your past is.

Too generous for how reckless your choices were.

Because grace doesn’t make sense when you’re still paying off emotional debt in your own head.

You remember what you said.

What you did.

What you didn’t do.

You remember the moments you gave up too easily, showed up too late, or led with fear instead of love.

So when grace walks in and says, “You’re forgiven,”

You don’t trust it.

Because you wouldn’t forgive you that easily.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…”

— Isaiah 1:18

But that’s the difference between your standard and God’s character.

He doesn’t forgive based on how you feel.

He forgives based on who He is.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us…”

— Ephesians 2:4

Let’s be real:

Grace feels expensive

because you’re still trying to pay for something Jesus already covered.

You’ve been punishing yourself in secret.

Making yourself “earn” emotional restoration.

Convincing yourself that healing has to hurt more.

But that’s not grace.

That’s self-imposed religion.

Grace doesn’t come with a layaway plan.

It comes with a cross.

And that debt was paid in full, before you even asked for it.

The longer you resist receiving grace, the longer you stay stuck in the story that says you’re still unworthy.

But hear this, King:

You’re not walking with shame anymore.

You’re walking with salvation.

Not because you deserve it…

But because you received it.

🪞 Crown Mirror Reflection

1. Am I still trying to make up for something God already forgave?

2. Have I mistaken self-punishment for humility?

3. Do I feel more comfortable with guilt than with freedom? Why?

4. What’s one place in my life I need to stop fixing, and start receiving?

5. How would my posture shift if I believed that nothing about me surprises God… and He still chose to give grace anyway?

🗝 Final Reflection: The Crown Was Paid For

You don’t earn grace.

You receive it.

And if you’re still carrying shame like it’s a badge of honor

You’re not leading in freedom,

You’re surviving in chains.

But Kings weren’t made to live guilty.

They were made to live clean.

Healed.

Released.

Crowned.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

— Romans 8:1

So stop holding the invoice for something Heaven already paid in full.

The price was blood.

The result is freedom.

And the posture is peace.

Let it in.

👑