Category Archives: General

No one is immune from the pain of this life.  Of everyone born, all die!  And along the way to glory, we face countless sources of sorrow and pain.  But for every child born of grace, pain is to be kept in its proper perspective.

For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.  (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Let me make something perfectly clear: Paul is not portraying pain as painless!  Nor is he saying that pain is irrelevant, insignificant, or inconsequential, even when regarded in light of eternity.  Paul’s goal, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is to provide every believer with the proper perspective for pain.

1^st – SLIGHT

In light of what awaits the believer in glory, affliction and pain are to be considered slight.  John Piper writes, “When Paul says his afflictions are light, he does not mean easy or painless.  He means that compared to what is coming they are as nothing.  Compared to the weight of glory coming, they are like feathers on the scale.”  This in no way is meant to minimize the reality of suffering, pain, sorrow, and loss.  It is intended to help the believer keep it in its proper perspective.   

2^nd – MOMENTARY

After the apostle Paul compares and contrasts our “slight” affliction against the “weight of glory,” he goes on to compare and contrast our “momentary” affliction against the “eternal weight of glory.”  Paul is encouraging every believer to keep pain in its proper perspective.  Whatever wave of challenge we are currently facing in this life is but a drop of water in the vast ocean of eternity.  

3^rd – PREPARATORY

Speaking from personal experience, it is hard to see pain as preparatory.  When I find myself in the middle of some kind of pain, I find it hard to focus on anything past the pain!  Is it not the same for you?  That is why we need to keep the Gospel before us daily.  Paul is telling us that our pain is preparing us for our promised reward. 

Only the power of the Gospel can lift the believer to the place where pain, suffering, and loss can be received as slight, momentary, and preparatory.  Whatever we are going through right now, we are going through it.  We will get to the other side, and on that other side is something so incredible—so incomprehensible, our words can produce only a vague shadow of the supernatural substance we will one day walk into with the One who has prepared all of it for us.  As Scripture reminds us, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV).

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

We are, by nature, restless.  We are restless in our relationships; we are restless in our work; we are restless in our station in life; we are restless in our success; we are restless in our failure.  Restlessness is as much a part of our mental makeup as our desire for food and shelter. And make no mistake; even after Jesus shows up and turns our lives upside-down, we are still restless. 

He will quiet you by his love.  (Zephaniah 3:17)

Here God confirms two very important things.  First, He acknowledges the fact that we are restless.  And second, He promises to give us rest.  “Come to me,” our Lord invites, “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  What a word of comfort that is to me!  I pray that you, too, will draw great comfort today from the promise of God.  Even we who are His adopted children are not immune to restlessness.  And do you know why?  It is because we forget who God is and what He has done for us. 

Some of God’s children are restless because they simply cannot get past their past.  Gnawing guilt has a death grip on them.  Instead of resting in the righteousness of Christ, glorying with Paul that they do not have “a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ” (Philippians 3:19), they are restless in their own righteousness—the flimsy fig leaves of self-righteousness which have failed them time and time again.  They promised to do more and try harder, but with each passing promise, they realized just how far short they continue to fall of God’s intended mark. 

Others find themselves restless because they are fearful about their future.  Uncertainty about unsettling providences, which began as a minor infection, has turned into a raging disease.  Instead of resting in the certainty of Jesus, they are restless in the uncertainty of life.  They count on created things, which can never provide them with the rest that only Jesus can give.   

Yet in all of our restlessness, Jesus has promised us rest.  As children of God, we have a past that has been perfected and a future that has been promised.  We no longer have to be afraid of judgment because Jesus took all God’s wrath and nailed it to that dirty tree.  He took the cup of God’s judgment and drank it down, draining every last drop!  ”There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).  We can live at peace with God, because God is at perfect peace with us, thanks to the finished work of Christ on our behalf.  Even when we are confronted with heartbreaking news, we can turn to the One whose heart beats for us and find rest in Him.         

The Gospel also tells us we no longer have to attempt the role of personal deliverer, redeemer, or savior.  Jesus has paid it all! He has done it all for us.  God is not angry with us.  God is not disappointed with us.  God is not frustrated with us.  And do you know why?  Because God is well pleased with the sacrifice of His perfect, precious, and beloved Son. 

Because we are in Christ, we are in!  We are part of God’s eternal plan and purpose, a plan that was determined before the ages began. We are objects of God’s grace and favor and love.  We are recipients of God’s mercy.  We are adopted into God’s family and receive His care. The Lord said to Moses—and He says to us today—“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14).   

Because of the gargantuan grace of the gospel, resting is the order of the day . . . not restlessness. 

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

Did you know that when God looks at you He sees Jesus?  That’s right!  You are clothed in the righteousness of Christ . . . “found in [Christ], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9).  So, you see, in God’s eyes you are perfect in every way.

However, you are not yet what you will one day become!  God sees that too, because He is in the process of setting it up. 

The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.  (Judges 6:12)

 When these words were spoken to Gideon by the angel of the Lord, Gideon was a laborer who was threshing wheat . . . not a mighty warrior doing battle with the Midianites.  However, in the sight of God, Gideon was more than he had currently become, and God was about to show him just how much more.  God was in the process of making Gideon a great warrior and leader, and the way God would arrange it, there could be no doubt who would be responsible for the victory and therefore who would get the glory.   

Gideon started with 32,000 men who said they were ready for battle.  However, when the Lord completed the winnowing of Gideon’s army, only 300 men remained.  Just one problem there: Gideon’s company of 300 men was dwarfed by the 100,000-plus Midianite army they would be facing.  But what Gideon didn’t yet fully understand was that the strength of His army was not to be found in the size of his troops, but rather in the size of his God.  God kept less than one percent of Gideon’s original force in order to make it clear to everyone that victory would come as a result of God’s power and strength, not man’s.  As the Lord of hosts has declared, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).  For the first time in his life, Gideon would have to trust fully and completely in God—not in himself—to become what God was calling him to become.

So . . . where in your life right now is God calling you to trust Him fully and completely? Where is He working to grow you into more than you’ve become?  God may not be calling you to be a mighty warrior on a battlefield; perhaps He wants to make you a mighty spouse . . . a mighty servant . . . a mighty minister of the Gospel. 

You see, the Gospel frees you to walk by faith and not by sight.  God doesn’t care what your opposition looks like to you.  He is the One who is going to fight your battle and He is the One who will win the victory.  God is in the business of showing Himself supernaturally strong through the unbelievably weak . . . if we will but trust Him. 

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

How would you describe your walk with Jesus currently?  Hot?  Cold?  Lukewarm?  Jesus warned that it would be better to be cold in our faith than lukewarm!  “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16).

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to find out what getting spit out of His mouth might be like!  “For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:30-31).  So with the understanding that living above the level of lukewarm is a matter of more than casual interest, let’s take a look at what a lukewarm Christian looks like and ask a question: How do we bring the pot to a boil?

Lukewarm Christians look pretty good on the surface of their salvation.  They attend church regularly . . . unless they receive an offer for a day on the water or a round of golf or a trip to the stadium.  They give their tithe to their church and even additional money to charities . . . just as long as it doesn’t hurt their lifestyle in any way.  They understand the truths of Scripture and the call to be different from the world . . . but when forced to choose, they would rather blend in with the world than stand out for Christ.  

The lukewarm are engaged in service to God, but their motivation is rooted in what others think and say about them.  They absolutely love the stories of sold-out Christians who have impacted the world for Christ, but they are not willing to move outside of their pre-determined zones of comfort and security to do the same. 

• The lukewarm call “sold-out” what Jesus calls service.
• The lukewarm call “radical” what Jesus calls responsibility.
• The lukewarm call “drastic” what Jesus calls duty.
• The lukewarm call “fanatical” what Jesus calls faith.

With or without Jesus, life looks about the same for the lukewarm Christian because they are not doing anything that requires faith.

But this is not for you!  To be sure, we all lapse into “lukewarm” in our walk with Jesus from time to time. I did not write this to evoke feelings of guilt and fear in you; guilt and fear never raise our temperature for any sustained period.  Sure, we may run hot for a time when we are feeling guilty about our past or fearful about our future.  But not for long . . . and not in a way that pleases God.  Remember, God does not look on the outward appearance, but at our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7).  As David beautifully captured the heart that pleases our Lord in Psalm 51:17-17.

You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

So what is the antidote to living above the level of lukewarm?  The Gospel, of course!

The Gospel is the fuel that ignites the flame of faith and keeps it burning hot, regardless of the cost or circumstance.  The Gospel reminds us what Jesus has done on our behalf, and the love of Christ begins to compel us, replacing guilt and fear.  The Gospel turns obligation into opportunity, which is a fragrant offering in the sight of God.  The Gospel is the only force that can lift us above the level of lukewarm and keep us there. 

So if you feel yourself running a little less than hot for Jesus, the solution is not to “do more” or “try harder.”  And it certainly is not to make resolutions to “do better next time,” only to find yourself falling woefully short of the intended mark . . . again.  The solution is found in your Savior and in your Savior alone.  See His sacrifice for you.  Feel His forgiveness for you.  Hear His victory cry, “It is finished!” uttered for you.  And hear His decree of power in your life: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

This is the only way to consistently live above the level of lukewarm.  “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

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

Many in the church mistakenly think their greatest problem is out there somewhere.  They think it is the environment . . . the culture . . . the government . . . the neighbors . . . the boss at the office . . . the list could go on and on.  I counsel many married men and women who are convinced that their greatest problem is located on the other side of the bed.  But the Bible has something altogether different to say about our enemy, and until we understand what is going on inside of us, there will be no measurable change outside of us. 

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  (Galatians 5:17)

The Bible makes it crystal clear that our enemy is not out there somewhere.  It lies within us, as the old man (the desires of the flesh) wages war with the new man (the desires of the Spirit).  Before Jesus showed up, we were content to honor the desires of the flesh, living to satisfy our sin nature.  But after Jesus showed up, the war began between the old nature and the new nature.  The enemy is not “out there.”  It is deep inside of us!  Our Lord warned:

What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.  These are what defile a person.

(Matthew 15:18-20)

Jesus provided a penetrating and profound diagnosis of the root problem that lies deep within the soil of every one of us.  Years ago, a newspaper article invited readers all over the globe to answer the age-old question: “What’s wrong with the world?”  G.K. Chesterton, the great British writer and thinker responded succinctly, “I AM!”

He got it!  Do we?

It’s important to remember sin’s goal in this battle: to separate us from God.  We cannot be taken out of His loving hand (John 10:28-30), but we can be tipped over and buried under the weight of our sins.  Satan wants to do to us what he did to Adam and Eve—to make us believe that God cannot be trusted.  The devil brought Adam and Eve to an utterly insane conclusion: that God—the One who created them . . . sustained them . . . gave them everything good . . . walked with them in the cool of the day . . . their loving Creator and Friend—could not be trusted. 

The devil tries to make us believe the same thing each day.  “Has God really said . . .?”  Every time we sin and give in to the desires of the flesh, we prove we doubt the goodness of our great God.  That is why we need to keep the Gospel before us moment by moment.  The truths of the Gospel give us the necessary motivation to keep getting up every time we stumble and fall, because we know we are secure in Jesus.

Ultimately the victory has already been won for us on Golgotha’s Hill.  Now go out and walk in that victory!  

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

The truth that is to follow is to be a great source of comfort for you today.  Nobody knew this better than the apostle Paul.

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:12-14)

Paul had every reason to believe he could earn the favor and blessing of God.  He was part of the “in” crowd at the Temple.  He was a Pharisee of Pharisee’s and lived his life to the letter of the law.  Yet in spite of all of his performing, Jesus showed up and made it clear that Paul was never going to be able to earn his way into God’s favor, no matter how hard he tried.  In fact, his focus on earning and performing was only driving him further away from God . . . not closer. 

What a comfort for those of us who are straining to keep running on the performance treadmill of life!  We do not have to perform our way into relationship with God.  And we do not have to maintain, increase, or improve on our performance to remain there.  It we were not good enough to get in, we certainly not good enough to stay in.  It is a prize that is to be won, not earned; and it has been won by Jesus.

The more Paul dug deep into this truth, the more he could focus on pursuing and finding pleasure in God, rather than performing for God.  Because of what Jesus had already done for Paul, he could live out practically what he already was positionally: a possession of the Prince of Peace.  Paul knew it was Jesus who took hold of him. and not the other way around.  When we understand this Gospel-saturated truth, we are free to be what we have been called by God to be.

This truth empowered Paul to rise even above a past that was littered with sin, even the wickedness of his involvement in the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  A past like Paul’s would have paralyzed him if he was still stuck on a performance-based religion—the need to earn eternal life and God’s blessings in everyday life.  Guilt would have ground him into the ashes of defeat.  But Jesus freed him from that, and now Paul was indeed free to focus on the faith that had been won by Jesus on the cross. 

So for all of you recovering Pharisees (and believe me, I am the chief of them), let us rest in the truth that Jesus has done everything that needs to be done for us to have a relationship with Him.  We cannot damage that relationship or destroy it, no matter how badly we perform.  Resting in the truth that we are covered in the righteousness of Christ is reason to celebrate, and the more we celebrate this truth the more we will consistently live a life that is pleasing to God and beneficial to others.  As J.I. Packer rightly observed, “No need in Christendom is more urgent than the need for a renewed awareness of what the grace of God really is.” 

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

Because we are all made in the image of God, everyone matters.  Both believer and unbeliever alike are valuable, important, and needed in the kingdom of God.  Because God doesn’t make junk, every person has meaning and significance.  And that is why we should look at people—all people—as part of a “holy humanity,” created in the image of our Holy God.  To be sure, sin has twisted and corrupted this image, but the image still remains.  Every person bears the image of God, regardless of where they live, how they look, and what they have learned.   

Think about the people Jesus hung around with.  In the eyes of the “good” and “valuable” and “important” people like the Pharisees, Jesus hung around with the wrong crowd.  He spent time with the dregs of society: prostitutes, tax collectors, criminals, the marginalized, and the outcasts of society.  He would have lived a far more comfortable and convenient life if He had invested His time in the socially acceptable and politically correct.  But He did not!  He was here for the down and out, not the up and in, and He would not let the opinions of others keep Him from helping the hurting reconnect and recapture their true humanity as image bearers of the Most High God!

Only the power of the Gospel enables us to tear down walls of self-focus and self-protection, freeing us to see the image of God in every person we meet.  This is what empowers us to live beyond the borders of our own lives.  We begin living for the glory of God and the good of others . . . all others.  We begin caring about people and for people who in no way can care about and for us.  Certainly they are in no position to benefit our lives.  Fredrick Buechner hits this proverbial “nail” squarely on the head in The Magnificent Defeat…

The love for equals is a human thing—of friend for friend, brother for brother.  It is to love what is loving and lovely.  The world smiles.  The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing—the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely.  This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.  The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing—to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man.  The world is always bewildered by its saints.  And then there is the love for the enemy—love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain.  The tortured’s love for the torturer.  This is God’s love.  It conquers the world. 

We love because we have been loved and we serve because we have been served by the One who purchased us with His precious blood.  As Jesus told His disciples, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).  And don’t miss this: Jesus knew we could never pay Him back in any way for all that He did for us.  For this reason …

• Our purpose is built upon His will
• Our passion is structured upon His mission
• Our potential is connected to His power. 

At this level of living, every person matters to us because every person matters to God.  God is in the process of making all things new, and in that process He has called us to live for something bigger than ourselves.  Everything we have belongs to God; therefore we are to be using it all for the expansion of His kingdom, not our own.  When we care more about what God cares about, we will care more about other people.  Mercy and love will be the distinctives of our lives, and all those we touch will see a God who is both merciful and loving.  We make our God attractive when we look for and acknowledge the image of God in the “holy humanity” God brings into our lives. 

When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteousness.  (Luke 14:12-14)

I know this all sounds so radical and counterintuitive . . . but what would you expect from such a radical Savior who profoundly talked and personally walked such a counterintuitive message? 

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

A long time ago in a place far, far away . . .

We are all familiar with this timeworn opening line from many fairy tale stories.  Today we will look at another story—not a fairy tale, but a fact.  It started off well, went terribly wrong, and is now in the process of becoming the greatest story ever told.

In the beginning, God created all things, including our first parents, Adam and Eve.  They were special and valued above all other created things because they were created in the image of God.  God loved our first parents with all His heart and placed them in the Garden of Eden, the paradise He had prepared for them.  They were made by God for God, and God was the One who would meet their every need and satisfy their every desire.   

Before Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, there were no mixed motives, selfish ambitions, or sinful pride.  They lived in a posture of loving God and serving others, and everything they did was done for the glory of the One who sat upon the throne of their lives.  Then, in one staggering act of cosmic rebellion, Adam and Eve turned all of creation in on themselves by looking for an identity outside of their relationship with God.  They no longer lived for the glory of God, because they were too busy living for their own glory.  They demanded that they occupy the throne of their lives, not God.  Everything they did was done to meet their own needs, accomplish their own agendas, and satisfy their own preferences.  They reduced their existence to a sin-saturated satisfaction of the self, losing all consciousness of God Himself, except for a fearful expectation of judgment.

We are no different; this is the existence we all live before Jesus shows up.  The only antidote for a sin-saturated life is the Gospel.  Only the Gospel has the power to incapacitate the snare of self-satisfaction and the seduction of sin.  Only the Gospel can put Christ back into what has become a Christ-less Christianity for far too many.  The Gospel, in all its glory, puts Christ where He belongs: at the center of our very existence, our Savior, Who is both our Source and our Hope.

SOURCE – Every good gift is from the hands of God (James 1:17).  Every gift, talent, and ability is rooted in our relationship with Jesus.  The source of our opportunities and possibilities is Jesus.  We are able to do what we do, not because of our strength, but because of His strength at work in us (Philippians 2:13).  When we want more out of life, we should want more of Jesus!  We will then invest our time in things that move us further in and further up into our salvation.  

HOPE – As Jesus is our Hope (1 Timothy 1:1), nothing in life is hopeless.  Jesus brings light to our darkness.  Jesus brings peace to our anxiety.  Jesus brings order to our chaos.  Jesus brings life to our death.  When Jesus is our hope, we can trust in His promises and count on His presence.  He will meet us in our place of deepest need and bring us to our place of greatest joy. 

When Jesus is your Source and Hope, He is at the center of your very existence.  This is the place where you live beyond the borders of your goals, your dreams, your desires, your needs, and your preferences.  All that you have, you give over for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom.  Your time is His.  Your talent is His.  Your treasure is His.  At this level of living, personal advancement and self-satisfaction are as far from your center as the east is from the west.  Just as Jesus did, you lay down your life and pour yourself out for others. 

We need to remember that what rules our hearts shapes our lives.  For Jesus, the love of the Father ruled His heart and ultimately shaped His life into the shape of a cross.  The vertical love He had for His father spread out horizontally for a multitude of redeemed souls that no man can number.  This is the life we have been called to live.

So is Jesus your source and your hope?  If He is, you will know it, and so will everyone who comes in contact with you.

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

Upon your first glance at the title of this blog, you might be thinking about another kind of “hurling,” like the time when the great fish vomited the prophet Jonah from its belly onto the shoreline.  I think we can leave that topic alone!  In today’s blog, I’d like to discuss holy hurling: one of the most magnificent pictures of the love, grace, and mercy of our heavenly Father, which is provided for us by the prophet Micah.  

You will hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.  (Micah 7:19)

Micah’s magnificent metaphor is a tremendous source of comfort and hope to all Christians.  We can all picture someone tossing something over the side of a boat into the depths of the sea, such as a net or an anchor.  For me, it was my car keys; the hook on the end of my fishing line snagged them just right as I was casting into the sea.  I will never forget watching them slowly descend toward the bottom of the sea and wondering sourly how I would get home that day.   

But Micah’s picture is quite different and much more dramatic. Our God “hurled” our sins—all our sins—overboard into the depths of the sea.  Not dropped . . . not tossed . . . not pitched . . . but “HURLED” overboard, never to be seen or heard from again.  God’s justice was satisfied on the cross by His precious Son, so God finds great delight in putting away our sins forever.  David rejoiced that “As far as the east is from the west, so far does [God] remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

 Jerry Bridges paints a wonderful picture of God’s holy hurling in The Gospel for Real Life.

God is not a reluctant forgiver.  He is a joyous one.  His justice having been satisfied and His wrath having been exhausted, He is now eager to extend His forgiveness to all who trust in His son as their propitiatory sacrifice. 

Because Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins—past, present, and future—God is pictured in a posture of “HOLY HURLING”—forcefully expelling every single transgression to the bottom of the sea . . . all forgiven, all forgotten.  Not because of anything we do, but because of everything Jesus has done on our behalf. 

Corrie ten Boom, that remarkable Christian survivor of the Holocaust, put the exclamation mark to Micah’s declaration of what God, in Christ, has done for us by casting our sins into the depths of the sea.  She wrote, “And then God put up a sign saying, ‘No fishing allowed.’”  God is no longer our Judge.  He judged Jesus for our sins and poured out His wrath on Him.  Clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, we no longer stand guilty before a Holy God in His heavenly courtroom.

It is Satan, our enemy, the accuser, who wants us to keep dredging up old sins so we can live under the weight of guilt and shame.  And if he can’t get us to do that—if we heed the “No fishing allowed” sign erected by Scripture—Satan will do everything in his power to incite us to dredge up old sins of others.  Does any of this resonate with you?

The more we live in the truths of the Gospel, the better we can see and embrace the holy hurling of our heavenly Father.  The next time you are tempted to live in the paralyzing guilt and shame of past sins, picture your God hurling them overboard and watch them plunging into the bottom of the sea, never to bob to the surface again.  Christian, your sins are forgiven . . . forgotten . . . and you are never forsaken.  What a friend we have in Jesus!

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

One of the great gifts we receive from God, as He leads us further in and further up into the grace of the Gospel, is in going from referee to coach.

A referee is in the position of ultimate authority on the field of competition.  A referee has two primary tasks: the first is to enforce the rules; the second is to enact the consequences for violation of the rules.  A referee is vital for ensuring that the game is played in a way where chaos does not reign supreme.  Everyone can utilize their gifts, talents, and abilities because order is maintained and managed.

But when it comes to the game of life, the Gospel empowers every Christian to go from referee to coach.  The church is in need of more coaches . . . not referees.  Coaches encourage, inspire, and motivate their players to perform at the peak of their God-given abilities.  Coaches remind their players of what they have already learned as they are performing on the field of competition.  And how do they do that?  They get their players to focus on the Gospel and all Jesus has done on their behalf.

In a word, coaches get others to focus on the blessings of redemption:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

(Galatians 3:13)

God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.  (Galatians 4:4-5)

You were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers.  (1 Peter 1:18)

Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.  (Titus 2:14)

Those who are truly in love with Jesus receive both the referee and the coach, knowing that God uses both to grow them up in Christ.  To be sure, we all are in need of holy confrontations from time to time, like the one that David received from Nathan.  This was one of God’s great graces in the life of His king.  David was trapped in a season of sin, and his conscience was not bringing appropriate accusations against him.  King David was clearly numb to his own sin and was snared by it.  If you don’t have a Nathan in your life right now, pray that God will send you one!

But I am convinced that we all need more coaching in our lives than we do refereeing.  We need to be continually reminded that we are freed from the curse of the law.  We need to be continually reminded that we have the full rights of sons of the Most High God.  We need to be continually reminded that we have been saved from an empty life and delivered into an abundant life in Christ.  And we need to be continually reminded that Jesus poured His life out on the cross that we might be His very own. 

Coaches provide reminders that stir the heart and strengthen the will to live a life that is pleasing to God . . . not because of what we hope to gain, but because of what we have already been given. 

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