We live in outrageous times. Many things we took for granted suddenly are questioned. The whole world order seems to be shifting, our communities have changed with social media and due to the pandemic isolation policies and their after-effects, AI redefining reality, family bonds breaking up, and many wondering whom can you rely on any more.

When I watch the news, see online posts or get into conversation I cannot avoid seeing and hearing disturbing things, however, I have decided I don’t let it drag me down any more. I try to become more resilient, develop grit.

My youngest grandchild, little Ruby, is learning how to walk. She’s got grit. She might fall down several times in a row, but she won’t give up. Just the opposite, once she is on her feet she tries to get faster every time.

I think we can learn from children about this resiliency. Of course, the child needs a lot of reassurance, encouragement and praise. The same is true for us. Life is not meant to be easy and without obstacles and draw backs, and for those moments we need others around us to strengthen us.

My faith and my church community give me that base, this assurance. I know I am not just an accident of molecules and genes, but my God created me to be me.

Psalm 139 talks about this (verses 13-17a, NIV): “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the Earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God!“

Creation is a wonderful concept. There was a plan and a master builder, and everything works together in a system, from the micro-cosmos to the universe. We are here because God wanted it. God had a plan and you and me are part of this plan.

While this is an encouraging thought, it can also be hard at times. Will I be able to do my part? Do I even know my part? What if I fail, and believe me, I often think that. What if I am not good enough? I might be able to fake it, and keep the façade, but God knows all my shortcomings and faults.

The amazing thing is that God actually like a parent continues to encourage us to get back up on our feet and try again. Just like little Ruby learning how to walk. He does not blame us for falling, but reaches out with a loving hand to rise us up again.

Christians call that grace. We don’t have to pay for everything, we don’t have to worry about God’s anger, he sent his son to pay for us. That is very unique Christian. We are saved not by what we do and accomplish but by grace alone through our faith.

In other non-Christian or pseudo-Christian religions like Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism, or Jehovah Witness, one will get what one deserves. Some call it karma, others justice. It’s like a balance sheet with plus and minus. Heaven for the good guys and hell for all the others.

Grace and mercy are different. Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve (condemnation and hell), and Grace is when you get what you don’t deserve (forgiveness and heaven). That is the essence of the Gospel. It is different than what the world teaches us, though even in this world we can sometimes experience such grace and mercy, that somebody else picks up the bill.

Ephesians 2:8-9 puts it this way (NIV): “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God —  not by works, so that no one can boast.“

Why did God do that? The answer is as easy as it is surprising: Out of love. Just like parents will do almost anything for their children out of love. When I grew up, I knew my parents were 100 per cent behind me.

Even when I messed up at times, they would not let me down, but came to my rescue. In John 3:16 and 17 we read (NIV): “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

At this point one might ask: So can Christians just do what they want and continue to sin for fun? If there is forgiveness anyway, why not take advantage of it?

The answer is a little bit more complicated, but still easy to understand. If you look at those verses I just quoted, you will see that there is one addition: “through faith” and “whoever believes in him”. For those who believe, who have faith, something changes. True faith bears fruit.

James 2:14-17 says: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,  and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled’, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

What James means is that true faith will change something in a Christian. True faith will encourage us to do better, to try harder, to be a better version of ourselves. True faith realises what God has done for us, and that we can maybe try to do more to obey him.

When Christ was asked what the greatest commandment is, he quoted from the Old Testament (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV): “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Once we come to faith we are not only save by his grace, we also begin to love in a new way. Paul says in Romans 6:1 and 2 (NIV): “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”

Instead we develop gratitude. We are thankful for what God has given us, from the very little things to the big picture. I find it fascinating that modern psychology actually teaches what the Bible already knew. One way to get through difficult times in the world can be to keep a gratitude journal. Just write out two or three things every day you are grateful for, maybe a beautiful sun rise, a friendly encounter at the grocery market, or a gift. When we remember that we actually experience good things all the time, we get reminded of God’s grace and in turn develop even more grit.

• Karsten Decker was the pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Bermuda from 2010 to 2017, and after returning from Germany is now the temporary pulpit supply at Centenary United Methodist Church in Smith’s