I can't remember where on earth I first heard this, but I was reminded today that we need to preach the gospel to ourselves every single day. When it comes to hearing the gospel, there's such a temptation for believers to think, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know all that. I'm already saved. Been there. Done that. Tell me something I don't know." We think we're ready to move on, but we should never leave behind a life-changing amazement, wonder, and gratitude in and for the gospel.
As C.J. Mahaney writes, "the first and most important thing you can do--always--is simply to make sure the gospel is at the very center of your life... What is it that can make the gospel of God and His grace more deeply and consistently amazing to us? In our busy lives, how can we more often be gripped by gratitude and enflamed by passion for the Savior... and cast off lukewarmness and dullness in our spiritual experience? For me, grace is never more amazing than when I'm looking intensely at the cross, and I believe the same will be true for every child of God. There's nothing more overpowering and captivating to the soul than to climb Calvary's mountain with childlike attentiveness and wonder, with all the distractions and wrong assumptions cleared away."
It's all about the cross. That's the essence of the gospel. And the gospel is the essence of joyful lives.
Isn't it so easy, however, to get off-track? We desire to do better and be better--nothing wrong with that... unless it's striving. Striving in our strength. Assuming that somehow it's all up to me to become a better person, a more worthy child of God. And before we know it, we're discouraged and frustrated and exhausted. Not to mention generally unpleasant to be around, I'm sure.
Because the simple truth is: it's not up to us. It's all up to Christ. It's ALL about what HE did for us on the cross and about daily accepting the glorious truth of His atoning work to save us from our sin and from ourselves and from our impossible standards. We simply cannot earn it or deserve it or try harder for it. Nor can our children nor any of our loved ones. And when we try to measure them by our unattainable standards, they will fall as absolutely flat as we do. What a burden to place upon those we love.
But when we cease striving and instead preach the gospel to ourselves, we're reminded that it's His grace that saves us and sustains us and enables us. His grace frees us from ourselves. His grace saves us not only from our enslavement to sin but our enslavement to performance. And in the freedom of recognizing that we can never "measure up," but that Christ paid the price we could never ever pay, we are freed to love Him more fully, obey Him more gratefully, and serve Him more joyously.
Maybe you didn't need reminding... but I did. I do... every single day.
When I fail and feel like a failure, I can say, "Ahh, but for this we have Jesus." When I mess up with my children or struggle with some frustrating habit... "but for this we have Jesus." When I forget His grace or His mercy or His goodness and start to feel entitled or demanding, I stop and recall the scandalous gospel: Jesus, Almighty Glorious God, died on a cross for my sin, my selfishness, my pride, my greed, my envy. And all that hateful, ugliness has been fully paid for and dealt with by my sinless Savior. How can I live with anything other than overwhelming gratitude for the grace that has been bestowed upon me?
Preach the gospel to yourself today. And while you're at it, remind yourself that the same gospel saves and frees those you love. Might the glory of His grace overwhelm us this day... and every day.
To God be the glory.
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