Category Archives: General

If life is all about God—and it is—then our life is all about bringing glory to God. The magnificent Westminster Confession of Faith’s Larger Catechism begins this way:

Question 1: What is the chief and highest end of man?

Answer: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever

Sothe question we all have to answer is this: How is our story bringing God glory?St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!”When you take a look at your life’s story up to this point, would you define it as being “fully alive”? Or something less?

Let’s see how Jesus brought glory to God the Father when He was upon this earth.

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. (John 17:4)

Jesus brought glory to God by fulfilling His purpose in life.He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and He completed what He came to do.“It is finished,” He cried out from the cross (John 19:30), a shout of triumph so thunderous that the earth shook and the rocks split open (Matthew 27:51).

Every human being is to bring God glory by fulfilling the purpose God has given to them.Think about all the things created by God that fulfills their purpose:birds fly;fish swim;trees grow;the sun, moon, and the stars give light to the earth.Everything created brings glory to the Creator when it is doing what it was created to do.God made everything for a purpose . . . and that includes you!Your life story brings glory to God when you are living the life God has created you to live.

Today’s word of encouragement is not intended to tell you whether you should be a butcher, baker, or candlestick maker.It is intended to encourage you to glorify God, regardless of what you are currently doing, simply because you are consciously doing it for His glory!When you live and work and interact with otherswith the intent of giving God glory, then you know the experience of being fully alive, because you are living for the One who gave you life.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.  (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

The primary way we bring glory to God is through worship; all of life is to be an act of worship.C. S. Lewis once wrote, “In commanding us to worship Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”We worship God when we delight in Him—not out of a sense of duty, but out of a sense of pure devotion.God wants us to live life to the fullest (John 10:10) and He knows we are never more alive than when our life story is working to bring God glory.John Piper wrote, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

So . . . how satisfied are you in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?Is there anything smaller than God that holds your heart?We all find ourselves struggling with divided affections from time to time.That is simply a result of the battle we face with indwelling sin.The old nature will do everything in its power to tear down the new nature.Since we will not be perfected until we get to the other side, we must fight the good fight along the way!

The primary point of God’s glory displayed through our story is found in the deepest desires of a heart that beats for Jesus—not perfection in your practice.If this describes you today, rest well in knowing that your story is bringing God great glory!If you have been drifting a bit lately, or even find yourself “in the far country,” fear not!Your Heavenly Father waits for your return with open arms.And when you return home, you will not be received back as a slave, but as a son . . . justas if you’d never left.He wanted me to tell you that!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When it comes to the Christian faith, becoming a Christian is not the same as being one. Becoming a Christian happens through the Great Exchange. God exchanges the righteousness of Christ for our unrighteousness. On the cross Jesus took our sins upon Himself (Colossians 2:13-14) and gave us His righteousness in return (2 Corinthians 5:21). All those who have trusted in Christ as their Savior stand before God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ forevermore. And that Great Exchange took place in the instant we believed!

But when it comes to being a Christian in our daily lives . . . that takes a lifetime.

The seventh chapter of Romans makes it perfectly clear that indwelling sin will be with us until we reach the other side of the Jordan. The old nature fights against the new nature every step of the way (Galatians 5:17). Now, please understand that the apostle Paul did not write that chapter to discourage us with the prospect of living in continual defeat; he wrote it to encourage us that we should not expect to live in continual victory. Sin will always be present in our Christian life, but we will be progressively delivered from sin’s power throughout this life as we walk with our Lord.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25)

I doubt anyone would disagree that Paul was one of the most courageous and godly saints who ever walked this earth . . . yet he readily admitted that he wrestled with indwelling sin throughout his Christian life. Take comfort from that! We aren’t comforted by the fact that Paul struggled with his own sin, so much as we draw strength from the knowledge that we are not alone in this ongoing struggle with our sin.

Surely only a true Christian can cry out like this, because only a true Christian has two natures at war within. Prior to conversion, there is only one nature, and it is fallen, corrupt, and dead in trespasses and sins. It is not at war with itself. But when Jesus raises a dead sinner to life and gives us the new nature, the battle begins . . . and it will not end until the flesh is buried in the grave.

We become a Christian in the instant we believe; being a Christian is a daily battle. It is a lifelong process of struggling with sin, repenting of that sin, turning away from that sin and toward our Savior, and living in the power of the Holy Spirit. I find it remarkable that Paul would cry out with such desperate need and then provide us with the only hope for every Christian: Jesus Christ our Lord.

You see, our understanding of being a Christian is rooted in our understanding of becoming a Christian. Marinating in the truth that we have been joined to Jesus (Romans 6:5) provides us both the motive and the motivation to keep fighting the good fight, no matter how many times we get knocked down.

We know that the war was won on the cross. We know that the Lord occupies the throne of our lives, so that sin and death no longer reign. But we also know by way of experience that sin still remains and will do everything it can to draw our affections away from Christ. The key to being a Christian is to keep the Gospel before us. We must never shrink our view of the cross and begin to believe that we have grown beyond the Gospel. Never forget: the Gospel is for sinners, and we are still sinners after we have been saved. The Gospel is meant for us every bit as much after we have become Christians as it was before, and therefore we must rest in it daily.

There is no greater consolation in all of Scripture than that final verse in Romans 7—“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” A heart filled with thanksgiving for what God has already done, and what He has promised still to do, is a heart that beats for Jesus. And the more our hearts beat for Jesus, the less they will beat for the things of this world.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Some think the Christian story began on Calvary when our Lord was nailed to the cross. Others think it began in a cradle in a stable, when our Lord entered space and time, took on flesh, and dwelt among us. But make no mistake, before the cross and before the cradle, the Christian story was written in the mind of our Creator.

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love . . .  (Ephesians 1:4 NKJV)

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  (1 Peter 1:20)

Before the morning sun ever shone or the evening stars sang, our Lord Jesus Christ was on the way to rescue rebels on the run from God. When the earth was “without form and void,” our salvation was full of substance in the eternal counsel of the Triune God and our names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Imagine that! Before God spoke creation into existence, He spoke our names into everlasting life.

When we marinate in these Gospel-saturated truths, we begin to catch a glimpse of the greatness of our God. He did not need us for any reason whatsoever. He already had perfect community, fellowship, and love in the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So if He didn’t need us, why make us? The answer can only be found in one word: LOVE! Surely you know the most famous verse in all of Scripture?

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.  (John 3:16)

I always find it amazing that John, who was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could find no better description for the love of God poured out upon His people than “so loved.” To be sure, the love of God is indescribable. Who can understand it and put it into clearer words? Take just a cursory glance at the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and it’s plain to see that God was in hot pursuit of the first sinners. They sinned and their consciences were seared. Filled with fear, they ran and hid from God. When God showed up, He would have been fully in the right to strike them down on the spot; instead, He shared His plan for their salvation . . . a plan that had been set in motion eons before.

Yes, our first parents died instantly—just as God had promised they would if they ate of the forbidden fruit—but that death was spiritual. Physical death came later. But God did not leave Adam and Eve without hope. He promised to send One who will crush the head of the serpent and rescue God’s people from sin and death. And that is exactly what Jesus did by way of the cradle and the cross.

We must never forget that, before the foundation of the world, God had written the plan for our salvation . . . and it was written on the heart of Jesus.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES BUT NAMES WILL NEVER HURT ME!”

Don’t you believe it! Sadly, for many of you reading this today, I don’t have to tell you not to believe it, because you know just how far this nursery rhyme is from the truth. It’s a fact that we will recover much more quickly from being hit by a 2 x 4 than from some of the names we’ve been hit by over the years. The pain from the 2 x 4 eventually goes away. The pain from some of the names we have been called lasts a lifetime!

•  You’re stupid!
•  You’re a loser!
•  You’re an idiot!
•  You’re hopeless!
•  You’re uncoordinated!
•  You’re fat!
•  You’re ugly!

How many lives have been crushed under the weight of names that hurt? The little league coach who calls his player a loser after striking out to end the game . . . the father who tells his son he won’t amount to anything . . . the husband who tells his wife she is the biggest mistake he has ever made in life . . . the parent who tells the child, “I wish you were never born!”

And if we are honest for a moment, we must admit that we have been on both sides of the name game. We have received our share of nasty names . . . and we have delivered them as well. Some we have even delivered to ourselves.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.  (Revelation 2:17)

We don’t know exactly what this name written on the white stone is all about, but we do know the new name we have been given on this side of heaven: Christian! And with the name Christian we have a plethora of other names that can heal every hurt we have experienced by the names others have given to us. We are Chosen. We are Adopted. We are Pardoned. We are Accepted. We are Forgiven. We are Beloved.

Jesus has the name that is above every name, and it is by His name that we have been given all of these names that heal our hurts, lift our hearts, and secure our hope. Jesus died on the cross that we might be given new names. His shed blood has washed away every other name we have ever been given and frees us to receive our new name. The only name that defines who we are is the name that Jesus has given to us. His opinion of us is the only opinion that matters. And the bottom line is this: Jesus is quite fond of all those He died for on Golgotha’s Hill.

In closing out today’s message, it is important to remember that even our Lord was called nasty names that were intended to hurt Him and hold Him back.

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ‘sinners.’” But wisdom is proved right by her actions.  (Matthew 11:19)

If The Son of Man was not spared from being called bad names, we should not expect to be either. We need to simply look to Jesus and remember we have been given a new name that truly identifies who we are and what we will be forever. Stick and stones do break bones and names on this side of the grave will hurt. But the name we have been given from on high will heal every single one of those hurts.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When was the last time you read through the seventh chapter of Romans? I hope you don’t have to blow the dust off in order to read it! For the committed Christian, this is one of the most comforting chapters in all of sacred Scripture.

In my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  (Romans 7:22-23)

Before we get into Paul’s ongoing struggle with sin, make sure you pause and reflect on the opening words of this passage. Paul’s delighted in God’s Law in his inner being. The “inner being” Paul is describing is the new nature that was changed when he was confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. The inner being is the core of his changed heart that was changed by the grace of God.

When Paul goes on to talk about the “members of my body,” he is speaking about his old corrupt nature that is still alive and kicking. So what Paul is saying is there is an ongoing struggle, a war if you will, raging inside of him. The new nature desires what is good and pleasing to God. The old nature desires what is pleasing to the sinful self. Paul wrote to the Galatians about this battle: “The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want” (Galatians 5:17).

The key here is to see that when Paul says that his delight is in God’s law, he is telling us there is nothing more he desires to do than to please God. Yet there are times when fails to do so.

This chapter and this truth is to be a comfort to every committed Christian. The Christian life on this side of the grave is not about perfection. Paul was not perfect, yet his heart desired nothing more than to be perfect. But he realized that until he reached the other side of the grave, he would be in a battle for control of his heart. To be sure, this chapter is not about a Christian lying in the ashes of continual defeat. But it is about a Christian not living in continual victory. However, the victory is ultimately assured.

Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:25)

To be sure, the war was won on the cross. Jesus nailed sin and death to that dirty tree, and they no longer reign in our lives. But make no mistake, sin still remains and it will do everything it can to make life miserable for us. Because we will deal with our ongoing struggle with sin the rest of our lives, we never graduate beyond our need of the Gospel.

The Gospel is for sinners, and we are still sinners after we have been saved! We are sinners, by nature and sinners by habit, slowing and progressively being conformed into the image of Christ. Like the apostle Paul, we must be disciplined in preparing for the war we face and persistent in the battles we engage in daily. But we should never be surprised or overcome by our lack of perfection. That day of perfection will come. The One who began the good work in us promised to finish it (Philippians 1:6), but that won’t happen until we enter into our promised rest.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

How joy-filled is your life right now?How would those closest to you answer this question on your behalf?Make no mistake, the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10) and that joy has absolutely nothing to do with the circumstances we face in life.Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) that empowers Christian believers to overcome the struggles and challenges of daily living. It is this joy that allows us to cheerfully keep our Lord’s command, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear” (Matt 6:25).

The world’s understanding of happiness is wholly different; the world’s joy is dependent upon outward circumstances.When things are going well,the worldly man is happy; when things are going badly,he isunhappy.

But this is not for you!The joy every believer was redeemed by Christ’s precious blood to experience on a daily basis is based on priorities rooted in the word J.O.Y., as follows:

J = JESUS

O = OTHERS

Y = YOU

These are the priorities in life which will, whether we are fully conscious of it or not, determine our experience of joy in this life.Putting JESUS first in life, followed by OTHERS, followed by YOU, puts you in the center of the will of God that produces the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.

We all know this by way of personal experience, don’t we?When we put Jesus first, followed by others, we experience a feeling of joy that wells up from deep within us and overflows into every area of life.This is our divine design, and when we are living according to God’s design, we experience our strength—the joy of the Lord.

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.(Psalm 16:11)

To be sure, true joy—lasting joy—can only be found in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.God made us that way.We have a God-sized void inside of us that can only be filled by God if we are to experience the joy of the Lord which is our strength.Sure, we can try to fill it with other things.And we do in countless ways.Some use alcohol.Others use work.Still others the pleasures of this world.But God has designed it in such a way that nothing will fill that void and satisfy us at our deepest level other than Jesus.

With that truth firmly established, what follows is our next priority: our service to others.“Other” orientation is the second priority in experiencing the joy of the Lord which is our strength.Jesus makes this clear in both Word and deed.His life was rooted in OTHERS.

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.(Mark 10:34)

Jesus came for others.Jesus lived and died for others.Jesus made it clear how His disciples will live when they are living for Him.If we are living our lives with Jesus on the throne, we will live for the good of others.We will model our Master and put others before ourselves. In doing so, we will experience the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.When we are following these two priorities in living cross-shaped lives (vertical with God and horizontal with others), the third priority naturally follows . . . YOU!

Jesus desires that we be filled with joy and He has given us the perfect prescription for making sure our cup overflows with it: JESUS . . . OTHERS . . . YOU!Now that’s a prescription that delivers on its promise every time.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When was the last time you felt like the apostle Peter and thought you knew better than the Lord in a particular area of life? Did you ever decide to provide a refined rebuke or cold correction to the Almighty?

Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22)

If you pause for a moment and think about your average day, you just might be surprised at how many times you say, “Never, Lord!” And I think the area we all struggle the most is in the area of grace. The words of 2 Corinthians 12:9—“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”—often unleash my unbelief, and I wander off into far countries looking for something smaller than Jesus to meet my needs, lift my spirits, and bless my hurting heart.

•  We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our purpose in our profession.
•  We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our significance in our success.
•  We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our meaning in our ministry.
•  We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our approval in our accomplishments.

God’s grace is sufficient to guide us, govern us, and grow us into the person God is calling us to be. His power is made perfect in our weakness, and it is God’s perfect plan to work through imperfect and weak people, providing all the purpose, significance, meaning, and approval we could possibly hope for or even imagine.

Far too often we say, “Never, Lord!” when it comes to acknowledging that His grace is totally sufficient for our salvation. To His mercy we want to add our merit. To His grace we want to add our good works. To His finished work we want to add our feeble works. Our sinful human nature simply will not receive the completed work of our Savior on the cross; we look for every imaginable way to supplement it.

And when we can receive the grace that is sufficient for our salvation we say, “Never, Lord!” to that same grace that sanctifies us as well. Deep down we believe that the only way we will grow up in our faith is by the spiritual sweat of our own brow. We believe God will bless us when we do good and curse us when we do less than good. Well, in the words of my friend and pastor, Steve Brown, that idea “smells like smoke and comes from the pit of hell.” Nevertheless, we refuse to believe that God is not angry with us anymore and no longer seeking to exact His pound of flesh when we step out of line and mess things up.

Let us never say “Never, Lord!” to the truths of the Gospel because we simply cannot understand the greatness of our God. May we say, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” to every Gospel truth and simply trust in His every Word. May our Lord gently rebuke us, correct us, and exhort us until we rest in the reality of our completed redemption until that day we are received into glory.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The greatest gift we could ever receive is the gift of God’s grace, which is given to us through the sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly, we can treat this priceless gift like any other gift and misuse it . . .  even abuse it!

Certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 4)

Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, identifies those who perverted the priceless by changing the grace of God into a license for immorality. They took the greatest gift that could ever be given and distorted it. They perverted the priceless gift of God’s grace by teaching that the Christian was no longer under any obligation to follow the Law of God as a rule of life.

We have been preaching through the book of Romans at Cross Community Church each week, which has afforded me the opportunity to explain the term antinomianism, which literally means “against the law.” Antinomians disregard God’s Law as a guide for living the Christian life.    

In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about a “cheap grace” that crystallizes the way the church in the 21^st century has perverted the priceless gift of God’s grace. Bonhoeffer decried the rhythm of redemption that requires no repentance, the duty of discipleship that requires no discipline, and a Spirit-led service that requires no suffering. It is a Christianity that is devoid of Christ and His call on the lives of His disciples. It is a style of living marked by self-protection rather than self-sacrifice. And when forced to choose, those who seek “cheap grace” always choose the way of ease rather than exertion in Zion.

But this is not for you!

Preaching the Gospel to ourselves daily is the cure that keeps us from perverting the priceless. The clearer our view of what it cost our Lord to give us His grace, the more careful we will be to both appreciate it and appropriate it in our lives, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Being compelled by the love of Christ begs the question, “What are we to be compelled to do?” And the Bible makes it clear that our greatest work is not in the doing, but in the believing. The more we understand the truth that our freedom was not free—it did, in fact, cost Jesus everything—the more we will walk by faith, rather than by sight, and live in sold-out service to our Lord.

The grace of God remains “amazing” the more we are amazed by His grace! The perfect Son of the Living God freely took our place on the Cross and endured our punishment for our sin—all our sin. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf. He lived the life we could never live and died the death we deserved to die in order to give to us His life—a life of righteousness, to be lived out with both freedom and joy, knowing that we are unconditionally loved and fully forgiven.   

Keeping Gospel truths in view keep us from perverting the priceless gift of God’s grace. These truths shout to the heart that has been made new that grace is far more than a theological proposition; it is a person, and His name is Jesus Christ.

Now that is the truth that truly transforms!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The dictionary defines the word desire as a longing for something; to exhibit or feel desire for something; to express a wish. We all have countless desires throughout the day. Desires determine the clothes we wear and the food we eat. Desires determine how we spend our leisure time and where we allow our thoughts to dwell. To stop desiring is impossible, but when it comes to our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, we find ourselves facing what I call “dueling desires” moment by moment.

The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  (Galatians 5:17)

Make no mistake. In the heart of every believer, there is a real and bewildering conflict of desires going on between the old sinful nature and the new “spiritual” nature. They are at constant war, each nature desiring what is contrary to the other. Every Christian knows this to be true by way of experience. Who of you reading this would not echo the apostle Paul’s sorrowful confession of Romans 7:15—“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do”?

Our desires place us smack dab in the middle of two kingdoms in conflict. We have the desire to expand the cause of God’s kingdom and we have the desire to expand the cause of our own kingdom. We have the desire to serve the kingdom of The One and the desire to serve the kingdom of one. We have the desire to serve our blessed Creator and the desire to serve ourselves. The primary problem we face is our desire to serve our own little kingdom is in direct conflict with the One who has saved us to serve Him.

The world, the flesh, and the devil battle all day long to capture the desires of our hearts. They make alluring and attractive promises, but in the end they simply cannot deliver on any of them. They leave us poor, blind, and naked. They promise peace and deliver disquiet. They promise fulfillment and deliver despair. They promise life and deliver death.

So how do we win the battle of these dueling desires that rage inside of us? Through the Gospel, of course! Only the Gospel has the power to dislodge an inappropriate desire and replace it with one that pleases God. The Gospel not only impacts our desires, it also empowers our disciplines. The Gospel is both the motive and the only enduring motivation to keep us consistently seeking after the things of God.

Only the truths of the Gospel can free us to desire the things of God from our place of acceptance—not for our place of acceptance. If our desires are rooted in what we will ultimately get from God, we will eventually turn away from Him, because we will be devoid of any lasting joy. But if our desires are rooted in what we already have been given by God, the joy of the Lord will be our strength to keep on keeping on(Nehemiah 8:10).

Let me close with a little story that wonderfully describes the inner battle of “dueling desires” and how to win that battle each day.

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: “Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most.”

On this side of the grave, we will always struggle with the battle between two desires; we can either feed the good, God-centered desires or the bad,self-centered ones, knowing the one we feed most will win the day.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'”

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:2-8)

Oh, how the cunning serpent slithered his way into the hearts of Adam and Eve!He made a promise of life, to “be like God,” but he could not deliver on his promise.The life the devil promised lead only to death . . . it always has and it always will.

Adam and Eve were made in the image of God; they were His image-bearers.But evidently they were not satisfied with being made in the image of God; they wanted to be God.They traded the worship of the Creator for the worship of the created thing—themselves—and sent all of humanity into a hideous,downward death-spiral.They forgot who they were and what they were created for.Our first parents had “identity amnesia” and bought into a lie that they could live a life of autonomous independence apart from the One who created them.To be sure, this was both foolish and fatal!

The devil is still busilyworking to sell his lie to those who have been re-created in Christ.He promises that we can step outside of our relationship with our Redeemer and find more life.He tempts us to believe that we can find in created things what only the Creator can actually give.

• We begin to look for financial security in our finances instead of looking to the One who give us the ability to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).
• We begin to look for good health in our nutrition and exercise program instead of looking to the One who holds our lives in His hand (Daniel 5:23).
• We begin to look for purpose in our work instead of the One who is our purpose (John 14:6).How quickly we forget that the Lord is our only security, health, and purpose on this side of the grave!

But this is not for you.On the cross, Jesus crushed the enemy—and along with him, the promise of life that delivers only death.Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we no longer have to define ourselves horizontally. In other words, we no longer look to created things (finances, physical appearance, possessions, relationships, etc.), to get what only the Creator is able to give to us.Everything smaller than Jesus is “fool’s gold,” which looks valuable on the surface, but in reality it is worthless and leaves us poor, blind, and naked.

Jesus is the only One big enough to meet you in your place of every need.He is big enough in our marriage.He is big enough in our parenting.He is big enough in our profession.He is big enough in our recreation.He is big enough in our storms.Jesus promises more and delivers more than He promises.He dismantles our walls of self-protection and erects walkways of self-sacrifice.His history-changing death on the cross makes possible the life-changing death to self, which frees us to live for something bigger and better—and His name is Jesus Christ.

Only in His willingness to die do we find life.His death is life, and the death of the self He calls us to is the abundant life.We will never find life apart from our relationship to the One who created us.Because we have been created by Godfor God, we will only find true life when we are living in God.As we continue to surrender and submit to His control in our lives, He frees us from the control of the things that were never created to control us.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.(John 10:10)

A full life was never intended to be found in anything smaller than Jesus.Every time we put the creation in the place of our Creator we find ourselves living a life that is no bigger than the life we are living.Rather than being an abundant life, lived out for the glory of our Savior King, it becomes an atrophied life, devoid of every lasting joy we were created to experience.

So . . . who and what have you been living for lately?Funny thing about living for Jesus; the more we die to the self, the more life we actually find!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!