Category Archives: General

I often ask those whom I am teaching, discipling, or counseling what they think it means to grow in grace.  We are all familiar with Peter’s exhortation to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18).  But what does that mean, exactly?  For the most part, the answers I get are as follows:

• Reading the Bible more
• Regular church attendance
• Stronger prayer life
• Consistently tithing
• Volunteering more at church
• Increasing service to community

These are all good answers and there are other practices, as well, which give evidence to the grace of God at work in the life of the believer.  And yet I must say to you that these answers do not go deep enough. 

Growing in grace is more about what we know than what we do.  Peter says we are to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  In other words, we are to be growing in our understanding of the Gospel: the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.  We must seek to understand more deeply each day what Jesus has done, continues to do, and will one day complete on behalf of sinners like you and me. 

He obeyed perfectly . . . He loved unconditionally . . . He forgave completely.  And all of this was done on behalf of rebels who deserved nothing but His wrath, judgment, and condemnation.  The more we understand this unmerited favor, the more we are strengthened by His omnipotent strength to fight the good fight of faith.  The more we understand what Jesus has done for us, the more we grow in grace; the more we grow in grace, the more we are transformed by its truth.  J. C. Ryle rightly observed:

When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this: that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual mindedness more marked.  He feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart; he manifests more of it in his life.

Growing in grace means we are growing in our understanding of God’s great mercies given to great sinners.  It makes the Cross central in our lives, as we daily gaze upon our Lord nailed to crossbeams—broken, bleeding, struggling for each agonized breath, and crying out to His Father, “Why has Thou forsaken me!”  Growing in grace magnifies the majesty of the One who set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) to pay so great a price to secure our eternal redemption.  At the same time, we see our weakness and utter dependence upon the One who died in our place and has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). 

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

Identity theft, also known as ID Theft, is a crime in which a criminal obtains key pieces of someone else’s personal information, such as Social Security or driver’s license numbers, in order to pose as that person.  The information can be used to obtain credit, merchandise, and services, all using the victims’ name.  The FTC estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year.  Some consumers victimized by identity theft may lose out on job opportunities, or be denied loans for housing, education, or cars because of negative information on their credit reports. Many victims of ID theft tell stories of how their lives were turned completelyupside–down and how long it took to get right-side up again.  

I am writing about another kind of identity theft in today’s blog,however, and the consequences are far greater than lost job opportunities or denied loans. Genesis 1:27 reveals that we aremade in the image of God.  Therefore, we are not only to love and worship Him, we are to find our identity in Him.  Our whole existence is to be rooted in our relationship to him.  

For in him we live and move and have our being.  (Acts 17:28)

The verse tells us where we are to find our identity: IN HIM!  The problem of ID theft shows up when we seek to find our identity in anything smaller than God.  St. Augustine made it clear that this would never work with his unforgettablestatement: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”  Any identity not rooted in God leads to living a life of unimaginable insecurity and instability.  It often leads to a variety of forms of serious and debilitating addictions.  Think about the following scenarios and see if any of them resonate with you.

•         If you are looking for your identity in your parenting and your children struggle . . . your identity is threatened.

•         If you are looking for your identity in your profession and you are laid off . . . your identity is threatened.

•         If you are looking for your identity in a dating relationship and you break up . . . your identity is threatened.

•         If you are looking for your identity in the applause of man and the applause dies out . . . your identity is threatened.

•        If you are looking for your identity in your physical appearance and you get old . . . your identity is threatened.

Our need for an identity is woven into the fabric of our lives.  God made us to find our identity in Him and in Him alone.  If we attempt to build our identity on something smaller than God, we will eventually “deify” whatever that is and make it into our god.  We will worship it.  We will praise it.  We will sacrifice for it.  We become enslaved to it.  In the end, seeking an identity in anything smaller than God is seeking to build our identity on shifting sand rather than solid rock . . . and we all remember what happened to the house that was built on shifting sand: it fell with a great crash!

Adam and Eve sought to build their identity on something other than God, and sent all of creation into a death spiral.  In so doing, they denied their own humanity, a humanity that was to be realized through their intimate and personal relationship with the One who had created them.  Theologian Thomas Oden puts it this way:

Suppose my god is sex or my physical health or the Democratic Party.  If I experience any of these under genuine threat, then I feel myself shaken to the depths.  Guilt becomes neurotically intensified to the degree that I have idolized finite values.  Bitterness becomes neurotically intensified when someone or something stands between me and something that is my ultimate value.  

Even if we seek our identity in what is considered to be “good things” (family, service to God, etc.), as soon as they become ultimate things they become bad things.  No matter how “good”something might be, if it is smaller than God, it is what I call a “God-substitute,” and in the end it will inevitably return void.  Only when we find and fix our identity in the Almighty are we able to withstand the winds of change in our lives.  Regardless of what is happening around us, we can look to the One who never changes, never leaves, and never forsakes us.  

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

How often we say, “I’m so thirsty!”  And yet do we really know thirst?  Do we know it like a person who is wandering in the desert without any water to drink or like the soldier on the battlefield?  During my season of service in the Hollywood Fire Rescue Department there were times after fighting a fire when I was incredibly thirsty, but it did not rise to the level of thirst Hagar and her son experienced in the wilderness of Beersheba (Genesis 21:14).       

When was the last time you thought of thirst as a good thing?  Generally we think of thirst as the by-product of a difficult thing like a vigorous workout, a long day of labor, or a hot day at the beach.  But in God’s economy, thirst is one of God’s great gifts to His people.  You see, when God gives you a thirst, He is the One who delights to quench it. 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  (Matthew 5:6)

In the Bible, the word “thirst” is packed with figurative meaning and a powerful means of communicating spiritual truth to those who have ears to hear.  In almost all languages the word thirst speaks of an insatiable craving and desire for an object to be satisfied and filled.  To be sure, there are many objects for which we thirst—not just for a cold drink.  We thirst for knowledge, power, wealth, and the applause of man, to name just a few.  Yet in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes it clear that the one thirst that we should have above all other thirsts is a thirst for righteousness.

To thirst for righteousness is to thirst for the things of God.  It is to sip from the fount of every blessing—past, present, and to come.  It is God who gives us a thirst for Him and He is the One who satisfies it.  God extends His invitation to those who are thirsty that we might come to the living waters and drink our full (Isaiah 55:1).  And the deeper we dive into the depths of the Gospel, the more we thirst for Jesus.        

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?  (Psalm 42:1-2)

So . . . what have you been panting for lately?  Frequently it seems like we pant for everything but God.  We pant for a raise at the office.  We pant for the latest advancement in technology.  We pant for the day we begin our summer vacation.  But do we pant for God?  Do we deeply desire to be in the presence of our God more than anything else?  When we thirst for anything smaller than God, we thirst for the wrong thing!  A. W. Tozer rightly observed:

In the midst of this great coldness toward God there are some, I rejoice to acknowledge, who will not be content with shallow logic.  They will admit the force of the argument, and then turn away with tears to hunt some lonely place and pray, “O God, show me thy glory.”  They want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.  I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God.  The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate.  The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire.  Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth.  Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people.  He waits to be wanted.  Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long in vain.

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”’” (John 7:37-38).  Those who thirst are invited to come to Him.  Does this describe you today?  Is your thirst for Jesus and what matters most to Him?  Remember, the thirst He gives, He alone can slake.  Let’s close with the words of Richard Blanchard in Fill My Cup, Lord.

Like the woman at the well I was seeking

For things that could not satisfy,

And then I heard my Savior speaking:

“Draw from My well that never shall run dry.”

Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up Lord,

Come and quench this thirsting of my soul,

Bread of heaven, feed me ‘til I want no more,

Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole. 

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

The dictionary defines “fear” as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.  We all know the experience of being afraid.  From the child’s fear of the dark to the adult’s dread of death, from unease due to the unstable economy to apprehension due to an impending layoff at your workplace, we have all experienced the paralyzing effects of fear.  Yet this kind of fear is not from God and can keep us from being all God calls us to be. 

For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.  (2 Timothy 1:7)

The Word of God makes it clear that any fear that paralyzes us and prohibits our advancing the cause of the kingdom of Christ comes to us from Satan, not our Savior.  This is an ungodly fear that makes us unstable, unreliable, and uncertain about everything regarding both life and death.  The devil likes to distract Christians with every imaginable fear.  He seeks to water down our witness and slow our service to God.

But this is not for you!  The only fear the Christian should have is the fear of God. 

Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.  (Deuteronomy 4:10)

O, that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever.  (Deuteronomy 5:29)

To fear God is to bow down before Him in reverential awe.  It is not a slavish fear that immobilizes us and keeps us locked up for fear of punishment and retribution.  That is the kind of ungodly fear that we see in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. 

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”  And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”  (Genesis 3:8-10)

Ungodly fear followed on the heels of the first sin and it has plauged every person ever since.  But godly fear is a fear that acknowledges God as much for His holiness as for His love . . . as much for His majesty as for His mercy . . . as much for His faithfulness as for His forgiveness.  To fear God in the way Scripture commands is to experience Him as “Abba Father” and to know just how we got in that kind of relationship with Him.  A God who was willing to send His Son to die in our place that we might live is a God we bow low before in loving awe and reverent thanksgiving. 

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  (Romans 8:15)

The fear of the Lord is the unshakable foundation upon which we build our lives.  We delight in the Law of God and desire to keep it, even though we know we fail daily.  The fear of the Lord empowers us to live out practically what we are positionally.  We are adopted sons and daughters who are deeply loved and desired; therefore we desire nothing more than to live a life that is pleasing to the One who paid so great a price to have us as His own.  And when we fail, and fail we do, we run—not away from Him but to Him, knowing that He awaits us with open arms and nail-scarred hands.  “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,” the epistle to the Hebrews says, “so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16 NIV).

Godly fear is a great grace given to the believer by faith.  It frees us to praise in our problems, sing in our suffering, and cry out to Jesus in our challenges, because we know that we are the objects of His unwavering and unconditional affection.    

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

Have you ever wondered what a gracious response to the grace that we have been given in the Gospel of Jesus Christ looks like?  To simply say obedience is to not say enough.  The Pharisees, you will remember, were obedient down to the tiniest detail, yet they reserved for themselves the wrath of God.  And yet, at the same time, we know the Bible commands our obedience.  Jesus said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:21).  It is our obedience that demonstrates our love for Him.

So what is a gracious response to the grace of the Gospel?  It is obedience that flows out of a grateful heart.  In his newest book, Jesus Plus Nothing Equals Everything, Pastor Tullian writes, “As we continue working out our life of obedience in light of Christ’s obedience, one thing is clear: the issue is never whether or not to obey.  We know the Bible has plenty to say about keeping God’s commands.  That’s indisputable.  But what motivates our obedience, what animates our obedience, and what prompts us to obey?  Is it fear or faith?  Is it guilt or gratitude?”  A gracious response to God’s amazing grace is a desire to live a life of obedience—not because of what we hope to get (rewards), or what we hope to avoid (consequences), but because of what Jesus had already done on our behalf. 

When the motivations of our heart are rooted in gratitude (not guilt) and faith (not fear), then we are gripped by the truth of the Gospel and the finished work of Jesus Christ.  And that is why we need to preach the Gospel to ourselves every day.  The Gospel first relates what Jesus has done and then paints the picture of how we are to respond to it.  What God in Christ has done for us always precedes what we in Christ are to do for God. 

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”  (1 John 3:16)

The transforming truths of the Gospel lead us to a total transformation of all that we think, do, and say.  The Gospel frees us to be what we are (Christians) because of what has already been done both for and to us.  Because we are already saved, we want to do what is pleasing in the sight of the One who saved us.  To reverse this (doing in order to be saved or to find God’s favor) is to distort the Gospel and make it of no effect.  This is trying to live in our own strength, which inevitably leads to disappointment, discouragement, and ultimate defeat.

But this is not for you!  Because we are already His, we should act like we are already His.  Our obedience does not gain us additional affection, blessing, or love.  We already have all of it—all of His affection . . . all of His blessing . . . all of His love.  This kind of obedience is absolutely freeing.  We obey out of devotion, not duty.  The Gospel takes us from being slaves to being sons, sons who are to delight in pleasing the One who paid so great a price for so great a salvation.

In the end, we serve because we have been served, we forgive because we have been forgiven, and we love because we have been loved.  All that we do, we do because of what Jesus has already done for us.  This is a gracious response to grace.

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

In Luke 18 we read about the Rich Young Ruler who came to Jesus asking, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  After a brief discourse, Jesus took the man to the heart of the matter in verse 22.  “One thing you still lack,” our Lord said.  “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  The man could not do what Jesus had asked, not because of what he possessed, but because of what possessed him.  Worldly wealth ruled this man’s heart and ultimately shaped his life—and the shape was a dollar sign, not a cross!

Many misinterpret the words of Jesus—“How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God”—and think that money is the root problem.  Money is not the problem.  The love of money is the problem, as 1 Timothy 6:10 clearly states.  Jesus is not telling every rich man to sell all his possessions.  God makes men rich (see Deuteronomy 8:18).  There are some rich men, however, who make themselves poor by looking to their riches as their source of significance, meaning, and purpose in life.  Other rich men make themselves richer by looking to Jesus as the source of true wealth and using their riches for the advancement of the kingdom of God.  Zacchaeus had great wealth, and there were others who had wealth and used it to support Jesus and His ministry. 

So regardless of where this finds you at the beginning of another new year, the amount of stuff you have is never the issue.  The issue is whether or not your stuff has you!  Pascal rightly observed, “There is a God-shaped vacuum inside of every heart,” and trying to fill it with anything smaller than God will never work.  The Rich Young Ruler had everything a man could want, but he did not have the one thing every man needs: Jesus.  He filled his life up with the stuff of life and left no room in his heart for the Savior.  He trusted in his riches as the source of his salvation. 

What will you fill your God-shaped vacuum with this year?  Will it be a new car, new address, new job, or new you?  These are all good gifts from our great God, but they enslave us when they become ultimate things in our lives.

“Abide in me,” Jesus said, “and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4).  In this life there is only one possession that should possess us and His name is Jesus Christ!  When Jesus has control of our lives, we don’t need to look to anything smaller than Him to give us the joy, happiness, and freedom we crave. 

Only the Gospel frees us to find everything we want in the only thing we need.  Only the Gospel frees us from our bondage to every idol that would keep us locked up in the prison of performance, producing, and pretending.  Only the Gospel convinces us that everything we have is a gift of God (1 Corinthians 4:7), and the more we have the more we are in debt to the One who has given it.  With this understanding, it is never a matter of what we possess, but rather, what possess us!  When it is Jesus who possesses us, we never find ourselves in the position of “one thing we lack.”

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

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 

The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

The world likes to start the new year out by making resolutions.  Some resolve to get fit.  Others resolve to get rich.  Still others resolve to get better.  The problem with making resolutions is located in the one making them.  Think about the last time you made a resolution: how long did it take for your resolution to find its way into the proverbial “hope chest” of your life? 

The Bible tells us there is a better way to start the new year and to keep it going all 365 days: that is to rest in the promises of God.  The power in the promises of God is found in the One making them.  God is absolutely faithful to His Word.  Unlike us, when God says He is going to do something, He actually does it and He does it every time.  Numbers 23:19 assures us, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.  Does he speak and then not act?  Does he promise and not fulfill?”  

So now, with that truth firmly fixed in our understanding, we can embark on a new year with great hope and a growing hunger to live the life God has called us to live.  Joshua knew this quite well: “Not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed.  Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed” (Joshua 21:43-45).  I think we would all agree that Joshua lived with great hope and a growing hunger to live the life God had called him to live.  May this be the confession of all our lives after we have faithfully walked through the landscape of 2012. 

The verse I have chosen to kick off this new year is as profound as it is promising.  Because of what Jesus has done for us, we are a new creation.  Grace does not reform us and it does not redirect us.  Grace recreates us from the inside out.  Notice that the verse does not say we need to make ourselves a new creation by working more and trying harder.  It says we already are a new creation, simply because we are in Christ and only God can do the work of creating.  What a pitiful promise this would be if Jesus said we needed to do this and not do that in order to receive its blessing.  To be sure, our nature is too weak, our hearts are too divided, and our hands are too dirty to ever earn God’s favor. 

Camp out for a moment on the word “behold” and marvel at its message!  Jesus is telling us to fix our attention . . . consider it carefully . . . ponder it intently . . . the work that He has done for us through our union with him.  We are to behold His work, His passion, His care, His forgiveness, and His love for us, so that we might profit from His promise.  Those who are spiritually united to Christ by faith are new creations and participate in the “new creation” that Jesus purchased with His precious blood.  This great transformation has taken place because we stand under the banner of the finished work of Jesus.

Now, we all know from unhappy experience that we are less than perfect—quite a bit less!  We know we are still great sinners in need of an even Greater Savior.  Yet, in the words of Charles Spurgeon, “The Great Sculptor has begun to chisel out the image of Himself in this rough block of human marble; you cannot see all the features, the lineaments divine are not yet apparent; still, because it is in His design, the Master seeth what we see not; He seeth in our unhewn nature His own perfect likeness as it is to be revealed in the day of the revealing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

As we stand before our Father in heaven, we are clothed in the perfect righteousness of the Son.  Not only do we stand forgiven, but we stand as if we had never sinned.  How much better are the promises of God than the resolutions of man!  If you are in Christ, God is at work in you and that work will not stop until it has been completed.  My prayer for you this year is that the promises of God will propel you further in and further up into the transforming truths of the Gospel. 

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

Today is our last message of 2011.  So . . . how did this year go for you?  Did it turn out like you had planned?  Did you accomplish the goals you had set for yourself in the areas that matter most?

As we get ready to turn the page on yet another year, we must remember that history will someday come to an abrupt end.  Jesus will return on the clouds of heaven, the trumpets will sound, and He will restore all things.  Jesus will take all that is wrong and make it right, and He will take all that is crooked and make it straight. 

When Jesus comes this time, He will not appear to humanity as a baby laid in a manger, as we just celebrated this Christmas; this time He will appear as a conquering King.  And when He does, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).  The kingdom of heaven will come in all its fullness, majesty, and glory, as God ushers in a new heaven and a new earth and a new you (Revelation 21:5). 

Regardless of how this year worked out for you, the best is yet to come!  Perhaps you had a year filled with one storm after another, barely keeping your head above water.  Or maybe it was your best year ever.  Whatever it was, it was not what it will be one day. 

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things is passed away.

(Revelation 21:4)

And when that day comes, you will know in your heart that you have arrived at your intended destination.  You will finally and fully be home at last.  You will be in a place you had longed for, looked for, and lived for, even when you didn’t know it.  You will finally be in the place where you know you belong because of the One you belong to!  And this will not be the end of your story, but rather it will be only just the beginning of it.  Everything you will have done up to that great day will end up being only “the cover and the title page of the One Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before,” as C. S. Lewis so rightly observed. 

The best is truly yet to come!  Heaven will descend into our fallen, broken, and hurting world.  The lion will lie down with the lamb.  The skies will sing and the trees will dance.  Our humanness will be restored as we are reunited with all people of every tongue, tribe, and nation, and there will be shalom on earth that will never again be broken.  WOW!  What an incredible future to look forward to!  The entire world will be restored.

Creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  (Romans 8:21)

Until that day comes, and for as long as we are here, let us champion His cause by preaching the Gospel to everyone we meet—with both our lips and our lives.  Let us, as fallen and broken people, reach up, reach in, and reach out in the name of Jesus to bring His restoration and reconciliation to a fallen and broken world.  Let that be our greatest goal and first priority in 2012 for the glory of our King.

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

Their hearts had been broken three days earlier.  What they had believed in and hoped for died a slow, agonized death, nailed to a dirty cross in the middle of Golgotha’s Hill. 

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.  While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.  And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?”  And they stood still, looking sad.

(Luke 24:13-17)

We find two melancholy men trudging along the road to Emmaus, two men who were about to have the encounter of their lives with the living and resurrected Lord.  Prevented by Providence from recognizing Jesus, they began to tell their unidentified companion everything about their hope in the one called Jesus of Nazareth, whom they wanted so desperately to be the promised One to redeem Israel.  But their hope was hung spread-eagled on cross beams, beaten and bloodied, until he breathed his last. 

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 

So they drew near to the village to which they were going.  He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.”  So he went tin to stay with them.  When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.  And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.  And he vanished from their sight.  They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

(Luke 24:25-32 emphasis added)

From broken hearts to “burning hearts”—that is the change that encountering Jesus produces, regardless of our current circumstances.  I don’t know where this finds you, but I do know Jesus wants to have an encounter with you . . . today and every day.  Our Master is always on the lookout for opportunities to minister, even when we are not looking for Him.  He sought out the women at the well.  He sought out a tax collector in a tree.  He sought out a dead friend.  He sought out a denying Peter.  He sought out a doubting Thomas.  He sought out two melancholy men on the road to Emmaus.  He sought out a Pharisee on the road to Damascus.  And He is seeking you out today.

Perhaps He is speaking to you today for the very first time—or at least the first time you’ve heard the call.  By His Spirit He is drawing you to Himself to cover you in His redeeming blood and to forgive your every sin—past, present, and future.  Yes, your sin is great, but your Savior is far greater, and He is able to save to the uttermost.   You simply cannot sin yourself beyond His reach.  Or, as my beloved Pastor Tullian recently wrote on his blog, “God’s willingness to clean things up is infinitely bigger than our willingness to mess things up.”

Could it be that today—today—salvation has come to you?  Are you hearing Jesus’ invitation to become a member of His family of faith for the very first time?  Take a walk through the Romans Road to get a crystal clear picture of that so-great salvation:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  (Romans 3:23)

The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9-10)

If you have walked this road for the very first time today and placed your trust in Jesus as your Savior, please let another Christian know.  Please let me know! I would love to tell you how you can build this relationship with the God of the universe into something fruitful and lovely.

But perhaps you already have a personal relationship with Jesus, but today you do not sense this “holy heartburn.”  Run to Him!  Let Jesus proclaim the grace of the gospel to you once again.  His patience is unwavering.  His forgiveness is unlimited.  His love is unconditional.  And it is all this for you!  You are the object of His heart’s desire.  Let this truth minister to you today and every day. 

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

The Grinch hated Christmas because of the size of his heart.  It had atrophied over the years as he spent all his time loving himself and hating the Whos.  His plan was to take all the stuff away from those Whos down in Who-ville, which would once-and-for-all stop their Christmas celebration and all the noise, noise, noise! 

So on the night before Christmas, the Grinch entered Who-ville and loaded up his sleigh with everything the Whos had, even down to the last crumb in the house—a crumb too small for even a mouse!  How happy the Grinch was to know he had finally stopped Christmas from coming . . . or so he thought.  Putting a hand to his ear to hear the Whos crying “Boo Hoo Hoo,” he could not believe what he did hear.  The sound was not sad; it was glad!  Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing, without any presents at all.  He had not stopped Christmas from coming.  It came!  But how was that possible, when he had stolen everything?

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?  It came without ribbons!  It came without tags!  It came without packages, boxes, or bags!  And he puzzled and puzzled, ‘till his puzzler was sore.  Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.  “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.  Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more.”

The Grinch found out that Christmas was more about the heart than the hands.  For the Whos, Christmas was not wrapped up in what their hands could hold; it was all about what their hearts could hold.  And for all of them it was love.  Love was more important than ribbons, tags, packages, boxes, and bags.

So what is the message that the Grinch proclaims to all of us this Christmas?  For the Christian, Christmas is all about love, and love is not a propositional truth.  Love is a person—the Person whose birth we just celebrated.  We need to know the difference if we are to know real love.  Steve Brown says, “Its’ like the difference between reading a book on lions and meeting one, or between looking at an advertisement for Florida oranges and eating one.” 

What is amazing about this love is how we got it.  We did not earn it.  It was not the result of something we did.  If it was it would not be love, it would be a reward . . . some kind of pay-back.  And that is why so many in the world today miss God’s love.  They are looking for it on the other side of their performance and obedience.  But this love came to us freely and unconditionally when we were most unlovable. 

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.   (Colossians 1:21-22 NIV)

We are not loved because of who we are.  We are loved because of who He is—“God is love” (1 John 4:16).  The neat thing about this love is found in the fact that we can love to the extent we have been loved, which means we can love like God loves.  We can love unconditionally.  We can love freely.  We can love mercifully.  We can even love those who don’t love us back.   

So . . . if your Christmas came without ribbons, tags, packages, boxes, or bags, were you able to do what the Whos did?  Was your heart still filled with love and thanksgiving for the Giver of the gifts, rather than the gifts themselves?  Only the Gospel can do this for us.  Only the Gospel can fill us with a love that looks past the stuff of life to the Savior who has secured everlasting life for us by the shedding of His blood.

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