Category Archives: General

Now I know that may sound a little radical, but radical is what the Gospel is all about.  My good friend and pastor, Tullian Tchividjian, puts it this way in his book, Surprised by Grace:

The Gospel doesn’t make bad people good; it makes dead people alive.  That’s the difference between the gospel of Jesus Christ and every other world religion.  All the others exhort their followers to save themselves by being good, by conforming their lives to whatever their worshiped deity is.  But the gospel is God’s acceptance of us based on what Christ has done, not on what we can do.

In other words, Jesus didn’t die to make you good; He died to make you His, by raising you from death to life.  And that, my friend, should change everything for you!  Life in Christ is not about what you can do for Him, but rather what He has already done for you.  Life in Christ is not about what you can give to Him, but what He has already given to you.  Because you are His, you are loved—not because of what you do, but because of who you are: His!  And as a child of the Most High God, you are forever loved unconditionally, no matter what you do. 

If Jesus died to make you good, the Bible would be nothing more than a book of rules and regulations for the religious.  It would instruct you on what to do in order to be loved, accepted, and blessed by God.  In essence, the Bible would be all about you.  However, if Jesus died to make you His—before you did anything good and in spite of your sin—then it has to be all about Him and what He has already done for you. 

You see, your goodness (obedience) does not precede acceptance.  It flows out from it.  “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The moralists, who think the Christian life is about being good, believe that can they expect God’s favor only when they are good.  They are trusting in their own goodness to broker God’s approval, not in their Savior.  They believe God is keeping score, and at the end of the day, they hope to have more points on the “good” side of the ledger rather than the “bad” side, so that God will bless them instead of curse them. 

But those who know they are already accepted in Christ find their desire for obedience flowing like a river out of a heart that is overwhelmed with thanksgiving for all that Jesus has done for them.  I have learned over the years that only those who know they are loved, in spite of their sin and shortcomings, find the continual strength to get back up and go further into their so-great salvation. 

Think about it for a moment: How good would the “good news” really be if the only way you could share in it was because you earned it and deserved it?  I don’t know about you, but no way that would be “good news” for me!  If I thought for a second my relationship to Jesus and the blessings He gives to me was dependent upon me, I would be driven into the ashes of utter despair.  The “good news” would cease to be good; instead it would be “impossible news.”  I know just how bad I really am!   

So the next time you are feeling down because you have fallen short of the biblical mark for your life in some area, remember Jesus died to make you His.  When He said, “It is finished!” He was speaking about more than His atonement for our sin; He was also speaking about His love for us.  Jesus can’t love you anymore because of the good things you do, and He can’t love you any less because of the bad things you do.  Make no mistake, the finished love of Jesus is a love that is never finished!

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

What battles have you been fighting in lately?  What battles are just ahead, around the corner, and over the horizon that you will be fighting?  One thing is certain: every believer fights battles.  The problem is not that we face battles; the problem is that we face far too many of them in our own strength.  We have forgotten what the Bible teaches about battles . . .

The battle is the Lord’s

Here are just a few of the verses that make it perfectly clear that our God is the One who is to be fighting our battles if we are ever going to gain victory over them. 

Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.  The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”  (Exodus 14:13-14)

The LORD has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day.  One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.  (Joshua 23:9-10)

[T]he Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.  (1 Samuel 17:47 NASB)

In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.  (Nehemiah 4:20)

With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

(Psalm 60:12)

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

(Zechariah 4:6)

Thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.

(2 Corinthians 2:14)

Of course, there are many stories in the Bible of God fighting for His people and winning for them the victory.  There is Moses and the Red Sea.  There is Gideon and his 300.  One of the best stories of God fighting for His people—His way and with His weapons—is found in the story of Joshua.  Joshua was leading the Israelite army against the Amorite army.  Before the battle began, God said to His servant Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them for I will give you victory over them.  Not a single one of them will be able to stand up to you” (Joshua 10:8). 

God is in the business of fighting for His people and delights in delivering them from what, to the watching world, look like insurmountable odds.  In the middle of Joshua’s battle against the Amorite kings, God sent a “holy” hailstorm to do for His people what only God can do for them, “The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword” (Joshua 10:11).  Hail is a conquering weapon for the people of God when it is in the hand of a Holy God.     

If God is for us . . . who cares who is against us!  When you are wronged, let God make it right.  When you are wounded, let God make you whole.  When you are put down, let God lift you up.  Whatever it is you are up against, you are not up against it alone.  God is not only with you, He is the One who is fighting for you.

What “Holy Hail” is God ready to send your way if you will but let Him fight your battles for you? 

• The “Holy Hail” of hope
• The “Holy Hail” of patience
• The “Holy Hail” of forgiveness
• The “Holy Hail” of vision
• The “Holy Hail” of godly counsel
• The “Holy Hail” of a Barnabas to encourage you
• The “Holy Hail” of endurance

Funny thing about “Holy Hail” in the hand of a Holy God fighting for His “highly favored” holy people: it will do more for you than you could ever do for yourself!  If the battle is the Lord’s, the victory is the Lord’s . . . so rest in that truth. 

So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

(Isaiah 41:10)

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  Never forget that . . . AMEN!

Did you know that “groaning” is a great grace from God, and that it is to be the mark of the Christian on the way into glory?  The creation groans; the Christian groans; the Holy Spirit groans.  The Scriptures make it clear that groaning—not whining—identifies those who are awaiting the glories of the life to come.  Between justification (the instant you were saved) and glorification (the time you enter into your eternal rest) groaning is to be the default language of every Christian.  Is it yours?

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.  (Romans 8:22)

The apostle Paul tells us that all of creation groans through deterioration, decay, and death, awaiting the day when Jesus will make all things new.  Under the divine decree of Almighty God, creation suffers—not because of anything it did, but because of what Adam did through original sin and what we do through our continual sin.  

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  (Romans 8:23)

Next Paul confirms that not only is creation groaning, but believers are groaning as we wait for the return of our Lord.  Sinners by both nature and habit, we groan because of the corruption and futility that exists in us and the world around us.  We mourn because we do not do the good we want to do, but the evil we do not want in our lives is what we keep on doing (Romans 7:19).  The difference between what we currently are (great sinners) and what we one day will be (sinless sons) causes us to groan even more.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  (Romans 8:26)

Finally, Paul assures us that along with creation and the Christian, God’s Holy Spirit roans also, interceding for us with “groanings too deep for words.”  The Spirit of Christ testifies to the fact that something is terribly wrong with us and with the world around us, causing us to groan and long for the day when we will live with Jesus in the new heavens and the new earth. 

The groaning the Scriptures speak about is a deep, inward, agonizing ache of the heart in response to the brokenness of this fallen world.  It is not the whining, grumbling, and complaining we frequently engage in when our plans are thwarted, our agenda is interrupted, and our preferences are put on hold.  Broken people in a broken world are to be groaning for the return of our Lord, when He will make all things new. 

If we are not groaning, we have grown too comfortable with the things of this life—and this, beloved, is the condition of far too many in the American evangelical church today.  When we find fulfillment in things smaller than God we don’t groan!  Yet God in His grace wants to break the power our possessions have over us, and this will only happen as we look more to our Savior than to our stuff to meet our deepest needs and longings of the heart. 

The life of the Christian is to follow the path of groaning to glory, which focuses our hope beyond a life defined by the horizontal to a life directed by the vertical.  To be sure, the Kingdom of God has come, but it is not yet fully what it will be; therefore we groan!  And the only people who are groaning for the glory of God are those who have surrendered their will to His will . . . their goals to His goals . . . their desires to His desires.  They are living for the Kingdom of the Savior rather than the kingdom of the self. 

What we need to remember is that “He who began a good work in us” is not finished with us yet (Philippians 1:6).  And that should make us groan with anticipation of what we shall one day be—like Him!

In a sermon preached on September 28, 1885, Charles Spurgeon said: “We cannot help feeling that we need somewhat more than this visible world can offer us.  Many of us find our greatest joy in the cultivation of that feeling, for it is to us the token of our spiritual nature and the prophecy of immortality.  To us, this life is mainly worth living because it promises to be the introduction to a better life.”

Godly groaning conforms our concerns and cares to the size of God’s concerns and cares, and this is the only place for the Christian to live. 

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

How do you see the Bible?  Is it primarily a manual of rules and regulations, designed to tell you how to have your best life now?  Is it a story book about Bible characters—some who were heroes to inspire us, others who were hellions to instruct us?  Is it a compilation of sixty-six disconnected books, each one telling different stories about a variety of characters, designed to provide us a menu of moralistic lessons?

Well, here is how God sees the Scriptures:

1 supernatural story

1 Storyteller

1 Hero

and His name is Jesus Christ!

Contrary to ever-increasing popular belief, the Bible is not a manual of moral lessons for wise Christian living.  The individual books of the Bible are to be understood within the framework of the greater whole, which sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ on every page as the only Hero of humanity.  The Storyteller (God) is telling us one epic story, which exposes and exalts the Hero of that story: Emmanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me . . . if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.  (John 5:39, 46)

Jesus Christ is not only the Sum, Substance, and Subject of all Scripture, He is the Source of it.  The biblical narrative in both the Old and New Testaments guide us into a greater understanding, knowledge, and experience of the unsearchable riches of Christ. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  (John 1:1, 14)

Jesus Himself brought His disciples deeper into this truth by showing them that what was concealed in the Old Testament was revealed in the New Testament.      

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  (Luke 24:44-45)

The New Testament clearly sets forth Jesus as the Hero of the story.  The overarching message of the Gospels is the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  The apostles preach Christ.  The epistles teach Christ.  The apostle Paul made it clear that the New Testament is all about Jesus: “We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:5).  Martin Luther said it succinctly: “Jesus Christ is the center and circumference of the entire Bible.”

The New Testament clearly sets Jesus forth as the Hero, but what about the Old Testament?  The Hero of the Bible is not found in the giants of the faith in the Old Testament, including Moses, Joshua, and David.  Jesus is the fulfillment of these men: the new Moses . . . the new Joshua . . . the better David . . . all who pointed to and foreshadowed the coming of Christ. 

Jesus is the pattern of and the Person in the entire Word of God.  John Calvin rightly observed, “The Scriptures should be read with the aim of finding Christ in them.  Whoever turns aside from this object, even though he wears himself out all his life in learning, he will never reach the knowledge of the truth.”

So how do you see the Bible?  If Christ is not at the center of every paragraph, page, and book, you are not seeing it clearly.  There really is only one revelation in all of Scripture, and that revelation is to be found in Jesus. I do no violence to Scripture whatsoever when I put the words of Colossians 1:16-18 into the mouth of our Lord:

By me all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by me and for me. I am before all things, and in me all things hold together.  And I am the head of the body, the church; I am the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything I might have the supremacy.

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

Have you ever had a friend get you into some place special, but the only way in was through the back door?  When I was in high school, one of my friends worked at the local theater and the manager would let him bring a few friends in for the final movie of the night if there were empty seats. We had to come in through the back door.  It was a great feeling to have a friend who could get us into the movies for free.  Now, as “awesome” as that was for us kids, I want to tell you about something that is truly awesome: in the Body of Christ, there are no “back door believers.” 

There are those in the church today who are convinced that if they make it into heaven at all, it will be by the way of the back door.  They mistakenly believe that the spiritual superstars will be ushered in the front door, to enter into the joy of their Master’s happiness.  The believers who lived a pretty good life might slip in through the side door.  But for those who struggled and stumbled through the Christian life, the back door is the only possible way of getting in.  Do you subscribe to this kind of thinking?  Well, fasten your seat belt and get ready to have your world rocked!

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

(2 Peter 1:10-11)

You ought to read that passage again.  Notice the kind of welcome every believer will receive on that day they are received into glory: A RICH WELCOME!  There will be no easing in the side door or creeping in through the back door.  A “rich welcome” presupposes that we will be received with a great celebration as we enter into our eternal rest . . . through the front doorway of heaven.

Every believer who has been on the receiving end of God’s calling and election will receive a rich welcome, not because of anything they have done, but because of everything Jesus has done for them.  Jesus will say to us, “’Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).  What a welcome God has planned for all those who are in Christ!  The angels will be singing as we enter through the front door and begin dancing on streets of gold.  We have been given a living hope because of what Jesus has secured for us through His life, death, and resurrection. 

Don’t misunderstand the words, “Make every effort to confirm your calling and election . . . [by doing] these things” as something we must do in order to receive our rich welcome.  That is not what Peter is teaching here.  The things we are to be doing do not earn our rich welcome; they prove it is already prepared for us!  1 John 3:10 explains, “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil; whoever does not practice righteousness  is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”  And remember, the first fruit of our union with Jesus is a change in the desire of our heart.  When we desire to do what Jesus wants us to do, we can be assured we are His, and when we are His we can rest in the knowledge that our welcome is assured because of what He has already done for us.   

• Not our work . . . His work
• Not our effort . . . His effort
• Not our righteousness . . . His righteousness
• Not our goodness . . . His goodness
• Not our strength . . . His strength
• Not our love . . . His love
• Not our commitment . . . His commitment

The rich welcome that awaits every believer is dependent upon all that Jesus has done for the believer . . . not what the believer has done for Jesus.

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

We talk a lot about freedom on this blog.  Jesus came to set the captives free, and if the Son has set you free you are free indeed!  But did you ever consider the height, width, and depth of this freedom?

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  (Romans 8:18-21)

I think you would agree it is one thing to be set free, but it is another thing altogether to be given a freedom that overflows with the glory of God.  Because of what Jesus has done for us, we rest in our current freedom while we wait with confident assurance for the glorious freedom that is to come. 

In our current freedom we live with the assurance that God has done infinitely more than “wipe our sin slate clean”; he has taken the slate away altogether! 

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  (Psalm 103:12)

In saying that our transgressions have been removed “as far as the east is from the west,” God is telling us that every sin—past, present, and still to occur—has been erased from our ledger forever . . . and then God threw the ledger away! 

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.  (Colossians 2:13-14)

It should have been me nailed to that dirty tree, not the sinless Savior. It should have been you pulling against those cruel spikes in order to draw in each agonized breath. And yet in our current freedom, provided for us by the sinless life, substitutionary death, and glorious resurrection of our Redeemer, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).  We no longer have to work to please our God.  We work because our God is already pleased with us, regardless of the results of our work.  God not only sees us as sinless because of the righteousness of Christ, He sees us as having always done only that which is good, noble, and right.  My beloved Pastor Tullian loves to remind us of Jesus victory cry, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Our redemption is finished; our sin-debt has been paid in full by our Savior.

And as good as our current freedom is, it will get even better on the other side.  When we are brought into the presence of Jesus for our eternal rest, it will be a “glorious freedom,” a freedom with no more tears, sorrow, decay, broken promises, broken dreams, fear, doubt, frustration, disappointment, sin, or death.  We will sing and dance in the new heavens and new earth, because the Master’s melody will be woven completely into our souls.   

Freedom filled with God’s glory is truly too hard to comprehend on this side of the grave.  We still doubt, decay, and die in our current freedom.  In our current freedom, we still stumble into our old patterns of self-rule, self-absorption, and self-centeredness.  And yet, in spite of all of this mess, we are still loved completely and unconditionally by the One who purchased us with His precious blood. 

Paul’s letter to the Romans exhorts us to regard our present sufferings as not worthy of comparing with the glorious freedom that is our divine destiny.  Is this your hope?  Is this your desire?  I hope so, because it is your promised future!

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

Spiritual snobs are everywhere.  Have you seen any lately?  Do you know what a spiritual snob looks like?  At times, you may see one looking at you in the mirror!

We are all spiritual snobs by nature; it’s woven deep into our sinful DNA.  We like to judge others on everything from lifestyle to looks . . . money to ministry . . . personality to profession.  We spend far too much time searching for and speaking about the speck in the eye of another without ever acknowledging and addressing the plank in our own eye.  It’s so easy to disregard our own “respectable” sins and shortcomings when we compare them to the “repulsive” sins of others.  We find it easy to look down on other Christians who don’t appear to be doing as well as we are or demonstrate the kind of commitment we do.

• We look down on other Christians who are inconsistent in their church attendance.
• We look down on other Christians whom we watch out of the corner of our eye and see that they let the offering plate pass by without adding to it.
• We look down on other Christians who ask for personal prayer for things we aren’t currently struggling with.
• We look down on other Christians who don’t seem to have control over their children during the church service.
• We look down on other Christians who spend more time talking about the good life instead of the godly life.
• We look down on other Christians who watch movies we won’t watch and listen to music we don’t listen to.
• We look down on other Christians who rarely, if ever, find the time to show up for service projects.
• We look down on other Christians who don’t carry their Bible to every activity like we do . . . even though we have no intention of reading from it.
• We look down on other Christians who don’t believe everything we believe and belong to different denominations than we do.

The list, of course, is endless, and as we busily engage in looking down our hearts harden, our faith falters, and our love lessens.  Unfortunately, spiritual snobbery is something that affects us all—some of us more than others, but we are all affected.

C.S. Lewis rightly observed, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you’re looking down, you can’t see something that’s above you.”  Funny thing about looking down on other Christians . . . it leaves us very little time to look up to Jesus!  And therein lies the key unlocking the prison door of spiritual snobbery: looking up to Jesus. 

The author of Hebrews makes it clear in which direction our eyes should be focused.  We should always be “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (12:2).  The apostle Paul provides a wonderful admonishment for everyone who finds it easy to look down rather than up.  “By the grace given to me,” he wrote, “I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think.  Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one” (Romans 12:3). 

You may remember that two men went up to the Temple to pray in Luke 18; we need to be more like the tax collector who looked up to God and asked for mercy than the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like other men.   

“By the grace of God I am what I am” Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:10).  We all must remember that if there is anything we are doing well, it is only because God has given us the grace to do it.  It is not because we are bigger, better, brighter, or more spiritual than others.

This is why we need to keep on preaching the Gospel to ourselves every day.  We will overcome our default mode of spiritual snobbery only by keeping the Gospel before us.  Preaching the Gospel to ourselves will keep us grounded in the glorious truth about God (infinitely holy) and the dreary truth about ourselves (incredibly sinful).  The more we understand these truths, the more we will look to our Savior for all that we need to give our lives meaning and significance, rather than looking to compare ourselves to our neighbor. 

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

Storms are a fact of life on this side of glory:  sickness and disease . . . suffering and disappointment . . . loss of employment . . . financial reversal . . . loneliness . . . wayward children . . . marriage difficulties . . . shattered dreams . . . death.  And these are just a few of the storms we may face!

So how have you been doing at weathering the storms of life that you’ve been facing lately?  When was the last time you thought, “WHERE IS GOD?!” as the waves of challenge were crashing over you and the boat you had been smoothly sailing?

When [Jesus] got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  And behold! A severe storm arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered by the waves; but he himself was sleeping.  Then they went and woke him by saying, “Lord! Save us! We are perishing!  So he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”  After he got up, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became absolutely calm.  Then the men were astonished, saying, “What kind of a man is this One, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”  (Matthew 8:23-27)

Many of the disciples were professional fishermen; the Sea of Galilee was their workplace, and this certainly was not their first encounter with a sudden storm.  The Sea of Galilee was notorious for unexpected, violent storms, as winds swept down from the mountain elevations over the waters of the sea.  Yet the disciples were filled with great fear—that had to be a bad storm! And all the while, our Lord, exhausted from His works of ministry and the press of the crowds, lay sound asleep.

And what did the disciples do with their fear during this serious storm?  It is the most important lesson we need to learn in this life: they went to Jesus. 

This is the first thing we should do as children of the Most High God.  When the storm winds begin to blow, we must turn to Jesus.  We cry out to Jesus, just as the disciples did: “Lord! Save us! We are perishing!”  Indeed, the Lord invites us to, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Psalm 50:15). 

I take great comfort in the fact that the disciples had to wake Jesus.  Our Lord was not stressed out, startled, or surprised by the storm that was blowing.  He was sound asleep, resting with complete confidence in His relationship with His Father in heaven, He who never slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:3-4).  What a tremendous picture of “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) for us to remember when we find ourselves in the storms of life!

I want to point out something that might easily be overlooked.  Jesus was with His disciples in the middle of the storm.  He is with us too.  Regardless of whatever storm winds may be blowing, Jesus is with us.  Jesus is not some “fair-weather” friend, found only when the sky is blue and the clouds are fleecy.  He is right there with us in the middle of every storm.  He has promised us, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18).  Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus! 

Jesus has been with you in every storm you have ever faced.  Every storm is used by God for His glory and for your good.  And yet we live in a fallen and broken world where some storms never fully pass.  Do you remember the story of the apostle Paul and his “thorn” storm? 

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

God does not calm every storm, but He is in control of all of them.  God knew the thorn was best for Paul, and He knows what storms are best left blowing in our lives too.  And one day we will face the inevitable storm that comes to us all in the valley of the shadow of death.  And in this final storm we will ever face, Jesus will be with us and will deliver us from it.  When we breathe our last and are absent from this body, we will be present with our Lord. 

 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

”O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” . . .

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(1 Corinthians 15:54-56, 58)

The Good News of the Gospel tells us that we are not only washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, but we have been purchased with that same precious blood.  Because we are His, we can face any storm wind that blows with the confident assurance that He is with us every step of the way.

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

“I still have many things to say to you,” Jesus said to His disciples, “but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). Our Lord was not speaking solely for the benefit of those who were listening at that moment; He was teaching all of us a biblical truth: God is not finished with us yet!  Now, if you are anything like me (a great sinner in daily need of an even greater Savior), that is not only a source of unimaginable comfort, but of unbelievable freedom. 

Because God is not finished with you yet, you are in a continual state of process and progression—not perfection.  You don’t know everything you are going to know.  You don’t think everything you are going to think.  You don’t say everything you are going to say.  You don’t do everything you are going to do.  You are not everything you are going to be.  And because of the promised reality of what you will one day be—“conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29)—you can rest in the reality of your freedom today.   

• You are free to enjoy.
• You are free to explore.
• You are free to risk.
• You are free to relax.
• You are free to dream.
• You are free to desire.
• You are free to love.
• You are free to laugh.
• You are free to sing.
• You are free to sorrow.
• You are free to forgive.
• You are free to fail.

That’s right!  You are even free to fail.  This must be true if we are not yet perfected.  Perfection is the only state where there is no failure, and since we are not yet perfected, we will fail.  Do you remember when Jesus told Peter he was free to fail?  You might be thinking, “I don’t remember any story in the Bible where Jesus told anyone he was free to fail.”  Well, stay with me for just a minute, and you may be surprised!  Just hours before he was betrayed and arrested, Jesus was speaking to His disciples. Suddenly, he turned and spoke directly to Peter:

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”

Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”  (Luke 22:31-34)

When Jesus told Peter he was going to deny Him three times that night, He was telling Peter he was free to fail . . . and fail he did!  After promising to die to keep from failing his Lord, Peter did fail Jesus three times, but the story of his failure doesn’t end there.  Jesus didn’t forget about Peter, and Jesus didn’t forsake him.  After the resurrection, Jesus restored, recommissioned, and resent Peter to advance the cause of His Kingdom. 

The freedom we experience in the Gospel is hard to believe.  And let me say this; if it’s not hard to believe, it’s not the freedom of the Gospel!  Because Jesus came to set the captives free, everyone who belongs to Jesus is free.  And in that freedom, there is even freedom to fail.  Regardless of where this finds you, whether you are coming out of a failure or getting ready to stumble into another one, fear not!  And when you fail, remember that Jesus is waiting to do the same to you that he did for Peter—to forgive you, restore you, recommission you, and resend you—time and time again!

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

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia defines the “good life” as a philosophical term, originally associated with Aristotle, for the life that one would like to live.  The world of marketing and advertising has many definitions for the “good life,” all of which revolve around the stuff of this world:

• Expensive new car
• Expansive home in a nice neighborhood
• Fancy clothes
• Fantastic marriage
• Trouble-free children
• Well-paying job with room to climb
• Influential social circle
• Enough money not to work
• Lying on the beach sipping a cool drink

I’m sure you could add to the list of all the “more” that the world tells us we need in order to live “the good life.”  The challenge with looking for this good life, as the world defines it, is that when and if you find it, it never delivers what it promised.  As a pastor, I get to work with a lot of men.  Many of them have achieved what the world would call the “good life,” yet many of them are still not satisfied.

Pastor Tullian has just begun a series on “Ecclesiastes.”  The author, whom many scholars believe was King Solomon, had amassed great wealth and possessions . . . everything he could possibly imagine under the sun that would comprise “the good life.”

I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces . . . I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem . . . And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:7-11)

Here is a question to consider: When you get everything you want and you are still not satisfied, now what? Our beloved pastor has been teaching us the answer to that question for some time now: “Jesus plus nothing equals everything; everything minus Jesus equals nothing at all!”

How would you define the good life?  What would make for a satisfying life, one marked by meaning, significance, and purpose?  Let me suggest that a change in vocabulary would be profitable for all of us.  Instead of focusing on the proverbial “good life,” we should be focusing on the “grace life” that naturally flows out of our intimate, personal relationship with Jesus.  You see, the grace of the Gospel changes our perspective about the “good life.”  Gospel grace opens us up to understanding the truth that the Giver is more important than the gifts He gives. 

Now, I know there are countless gifts the Giver gives to those who are His children and they are indeed good gifts.  He loves to give good gifts to His children; what good father doesn’t?  But God never intended for His children to find more meaning . . . more pleasure . . . more happiness . . . more satisfaction . . . more life in the gifts that were given, rather than in the Giver who so graciously gave them.      

We need to remember that the greatest gift Jesus has given is Jesus!  To be sure, there are great rewards to being in Christ, but none of them are better than Christ Himself.  Christ brings great change in the life of everyone He saves.  Wounds get healed.  Alcoholics get sober.  Drug addicts get clean.  Angry people get calm.  Pharisees get grace.  I could go on.  Yet if we focus more on the change than we do the Changer, we miss the greatest portion of what Jesus gave us: HIMSELF!  If Jesus is your definition of the “good life,” pursue Him will all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

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