{"id":7196,"date":"2026-04-19T06:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T10:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7196"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:25:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:25:46","slug":"performance-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7196","title":{"rendered":"Performance Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200201_161035-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7105\" width=\"247\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200201_161035-768x1024.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200201_161035-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200201_161035-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200201_161035-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200201_161035-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 247px) 100vw, 247px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Me:  I hope it is perfect! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prodigal:  Is it about perfection?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is from the book The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because we are focusing on our performance, we forget the meaning of grace:  God&#8217;s unmerited favor to those who deserve only His wrath.  Pharisee-type believers unconsciously think they have earned God&#8217;s blessing through their behavior.  Guilt-laden believers are quite sure they have forfeited God&#8217;s blessing through their lack of discipline or their disobedience.  Both have forgotten the meaning of grace because they have moved away from the gospel and have slipped into a performance relationship with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You look back and grace has escaped you.  The focus is on guilt or your behaviors.  The why&#8217;s are always looming in your mind.  They bombarded you yesterday and you were trying to do your chores.  God wants you to remember the gospel.  God wants you to know that you have grace.  Remember His love and grace today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Romans 8:6-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God&#8217;s law; indeed, it cannot.   Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>www.theprodialpig.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>www.faithincounseling.org <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Me: I hope it is perfect! Prodigal: Is it about perfection? This is from the book The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges Because we are focusing on our performance, we forget the meaning of grace: God&#8217;s unmerited favor to those who deserve only His wrath. Pharisee-type believers unconsciously think they have earned God&#8217;s blessing &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7196\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Performance Relationships - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today we have words from Jerry Bridges and he talks about Grace and the relationship with our Lord.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7196\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Performance Relationships - The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today we have words from Jerry Bridges and he talks about Grace and the relationship with our Lord.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7196\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-19T10:16:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200201_161035-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=7196#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=7196\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer Van Allen\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"headline\":\"Performance Relationships\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-19T10:16:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=7196\"},\"wordCount\":226,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=7196#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/20200201_161035-768x1024.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=7196#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=7196\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=7196\",\"name\":\"Performance Relationships - 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