The following excerpt is from Unloved: The Rejected Saints God Calls Beloved, by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick (Lexham Press, 2025). No part of this excerpt should be reproduced without the author’s permission.

The Bible says God loves us but sometimes we have trouble believing we’re loved because we haven’t understood God’s grace. Instead, we’ve heard that God’s kingdom is a meritocracy. A “meritocracy” is a place where you earn a wonderful life by your own ability, work, or goodness. In the meritocracy, you earn love and the life you want by what you do and who you are. God is like a cosmic vending machine. We drop in our obedience, good deeds, hard work, and religious busyness, and a life filled with love, richness, and blessing magically appears. These strategies are everywhere in the church. But that’s nothing new.

It’s Really Not Good News

Being able to earn a great life might sound like good news, but it isn’t. Why? Because it puts us in an impossible position. We’re deceived into thinking that if we just try hard enough, believe that we’re good enough, and never, ever, give up, we’ll earn all the goodies we long for. But that responsibility is doomed to failure; it will ultimately crush us. Jesus’ shoulders are the only ones broad enough to carry the burdens of the meritocracy and it killed him. But he rose again. For us.

In wealthy contexts, like the one I live in, in 21st century Southern California, blessing in the meritocracy looks like having a nice family, a nice house (with a view), and a nice car. It looks like good health and plenty of money at the end of the month to go out to whatever restaurant I happen to be missing. It would look like success in all my endeavors (especially the ones for the Lord) and loads of friends and followers on social media. It looks like a good reputation and knowing that I’m leaving a praiseworthy legacy.

How do I get this life I’m longing for? Simple. I need to believe that I can do it and then give myself a pep talk whenever I feel like giving up. I need to not buy into any negativity about my limitations or failure. Faith is believing I can do it—be successful, powerful, happy—and refuse to listen to any lies about how life is beyond my control. It’s faith in myself and my tenacity that will bless me.

This perspective sounds good because I hate to admit that I’m not powerful or in control. In the meritocracy, the only thing that’s considered a sin is the thought that I can’t accomplish whatever I set my mind to do. If I just have enough faith in myself, then my life will surely be blessed. I need to believe that I have the power to justify myself, to prove that I’m okay after all.

By the way, you can test whether you have inadvertently bought into this thinking by how you respond when you’re faced with unexpected trials or hardship. You’ll know you have if you automatically go inward and begin to question what you’ve done to disappoint God. I once talked with a friend who told me that she had had a difficult day because she had neglected to read her bible and pray that morning. While I find it easy to dismiss this kind of thinking, I recognize that my faith is far more transactional than I care to admit. When things go wrong in your life, what are the questions you ask yourself?

Sadly, much of what passes for serious Christianity has more to do with merit-based systems of non-Christian cults than the faith Paul lived and died for. If Christianity actually is a way to earn blessings from God, then it’s no different from Judaism of old. It wouldn’t have gotten the apostles martyred. The meritocracy is alluring because all of us want to believe that we can do it. I’m tempted to believe that I can save myself by my own determination to trust and obey.

Living in the meritocracy might not seem so bad at first. We think: Good works in=good life out. But this scheme never works the way we think it will. That’s because none of us can ever be good enough to obligate God to give us what we want. Why not? Because God is perfect and demands perfection from us (Matt 5:48). In fact, James 2:10 says that if we break just one part of God’s law, we’re guilty of breaking it all. None of us has ever obeyed—not as we should have. We consistently fail to love God and our neighbor. Even on the “good days” when we think we’re nailing it, we easily fall into sin: Look at me! we think. I was kind to the barista that got my order wrong! And right then, we’ve fallen into pride and self-worship. We are just a step away from judging others who aren’t quite as “worthy” as we are. No, the meritocracy isn’t good news for sinners. In fact, it’s terrifying.

Considering this brokenness, we must accept that we are unable to earn anything from God. Ever. Although this might not look like good news, it is actually the best news we could ever hear. That’s because, if we let it, it will destroy all our self-trust and force us to free-fall onto the mercy of God, the only place where sinners can find rest. And there, we will learn what it means to be justified: to be completely forgiven and to be counted perfectly obedient. Without any sin to condemn us, we can find rest in the perfect record of Jesus, the only One good enough to actually earn blessing in the meritocracy. He perfectly obeyed every part of the Law in our place. He earned every true blessing we desire. So…maybe God’s kingdom really is a meritocracy after all. Jesus earned our merit and then died for our demerit.

Jesus not only earned all the blessings, he also paid for all the failures. He lived perfectly in your place, died shamefully in your place, rose bodily in your place, and is seated in heaven as your Savior right now, overseeing everything in your life. That’s the message of the “gospel”, a word that means “good news.” The good news is that you and I can rely on a perfect Person to be perfect in our place. Everything that needed to be done to deserve God’s blessing has already been done. All you have to do now is believe the gospel, believe that Someone already loves you, no matter how you’ve failed. You’re already completely, fully, and utterly beloved. All the earning and payment that needed to be done has already been accomplished. The Judge has pronounced you “Not guilty!” In addition, the meritocracy has been satisfied. You are not only “not guilty” you’re also counted as a perfect law keeper. You have all the merit you need to receive God’s benediction of “Beloved One.” Why? Because you in the Beloved.