Grace for the Race

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 2:5)

There is a huge difference between secular sense and spiritual sense, and it is the duty of the Christian to shift from the first to the second. Before Jesus showed up, we thought as the world thinks, and we reasoned as the world reasons. But after we say, “I believe,” we are to exchange our old way of secular thinking for the new way of spiritual thinking. We are to have the mind of Christ, not the mindset of our culture.

So . . . how different is your thinking today?

Our Lord’s entire life was marked by thinking of others. He came to this earth for others. He lived a sinless life for others. He died on a cross for others. He rose from the dead for others. And He is seated at the right hand of God the Father right now, interceding for others . . . for you and me!

Everything in the secular sense is marked by self-centeredness:

• What goals do I want to accomplish?
• What dreams do I want to pursue?
• What possessions do I want to accumulate?
• How do I believe others should treat me?

To exchange a secular sense for a spiritual sense is to be marked by other-orientation. The world no longer revolves around me, because I am no longer the center of the universe! Then I begin thinking spiritually. Our thoughts rise above the things of this life as we begin thinking of the life to come. We start living in the light of eternity because we realize that what we do right now will echo there.

All the great saints of the Bible went through this transformation—moving from a secular sense to a spiritual sense. Perhaps the greatest example of this is the author of the letter to the Philippians. Paul went from persecuting Christians to pastoring them. He went from slaying Christians to serving them. Paul began living for Someone infinitely greater than Paul; His name is Jesus Christ. God gave Paul a spiritual sense that set the world on fire for Jesus.

The apostle Paul wanted to know nothing other than Christ crucified. Now that is a spiritual sense that is second to none! This can be the confession of our lives also . . . when we shift our focus from the secular to the spiritual and center all of our thoughts on Christ.

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

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5)

I pray that today’s message, which is inspired by this very familiar text, will be a source of great encouragement to you—perhaps in an unfamiliar way!

Most Christians are quite familiar with the concept of the vine and the branches. We understand that Jesus is the life-giving Vine and we are the branches, and we acknowledge the vital importance of staying connected to Him if we are to have any measure of success in living the life God has called us to live.

But it is also important to notice this foundational truth: to remain in Christ is to partake of Christ. Nowhere are we guaranteed that we will partake of the fruit! To be sure, the ox is not to be muzzled while threshing out the grain, thereby taking nourishment from the grain it has threshed (1 Corinthians 9:9), but often the Christian’s reward will be found in our relationship to Jesus Christ . . . not in our results for Him!

Branches are simply the conduits of Christ, bearing fruit to those whom we have been called by God to serve because of our abiding connection to Him. The branch exists for the benefit of others, not for its own benefit. My years in ministry have taught me that the greatest blessing in service to others is simply the service itself. Knowing that we are serving our Savior is the great reward, because we are constantly reminded that our Savior did not come to be served, but to serve others (Matthew 20:28). So when we are serving others, expecting no reward other than the joy of pleasing our Lord, we are most like Him.

It is all too easy to catch ourselves expecting a reward for ourselves in our ministry to others. Our service to God can become a means to an end rather than the end itself. You and I must always check our hearts to see what they are beating for at the time. Are we ministering in order to gain some benefit for self? Or are we truly pouring ourselves out because Christ emptied Himself for others (Philippians 2:7 NASB) and we genuinely want to follow in His steps?

So . . . what has your heart been beating for lately? Have you been living a life that is focused more on you? Or on Jesus? Make no mistake, God is in the business of giving good gifts to His people (James 1:17). But the key to living as our Lord lived is to keep our focus on God and not on any rewards we might hope to receive. The greatest gift is God, and the more we (as branches) stay connected to Him (the Vine), the more we will experience our richest reward: a joyful, vibrant, growing relationship with our Redeemer!

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

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” (John 13:7)

Jesus uttered these words as He was washing His disciples’ feet on the night He would be betrayed. When Jesus came to Simon Peter and knelt to wash his feet, Peter was as confused as he was convicted that he was utterly unworthy to have Jesus Christ—the King of kings and Lord of lords—wash his feet. As Jesus said, Peter did not understand in that moment, but later the lesson was learned: In order to be a leader you must first be willing to be a servant.

You may remember the story of Job and how everything except his life was taken from him by the evil one. When Job went before the throne of heaven, heaven was silent for a very long time. God did not enter into a dialogue with Job for many days, and even then, the Lord offered no explanation for what Job had suffered. Job had to learn that we are to trust God even when we cannot trace Him . . . and he had to learn that lesson later.

Take a moment to reflect back on your life and a time when your heart was heavy and heaven was silent. What did you learn from that season of silence? To be sure, at the bare minimum, we learn, as Job did, to trust God’s promise that He causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him. But often we must learn this truth later. Our human nature wants answers and we want them right now. But for the disciple of Christ, answers are often exchanged for the Almighty. Like Job, we remain perplexed, but we are sustained in His presence and we trust that God is working all things for our good and His glory.

“I know that you can do all things,” Job said simply; “no plan of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). Job had learned from personal experience the truth that is expressed in the psalms: “The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths” (Psalm 135:6)—and it pleases God to bless His children, even though that blessing may come to us out of a whirlwind.

The Christian must live life by faith and not sight, and receive the silence of heaven with the trusting heart of a child, knowing that our Good God has only good intentions in mind for us. As the psalmist wrote . . .

Why are you depressed, O my soul?

Why are you upset?

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. (Psalm 42:5 NET)

How many lessons have you learned in life . . . later? You know, answers regarding many things in life may not come until we get to the other side. But some answers do indeed come here. The disciples did understand what Jesus was doing when He washed their feet . . . but not until Pentecost, fifty days after the Lord’s resurrection. They needed to get to the other side of the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension; when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they learned the lesson. As the apostle Paul wrote, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Be encouraged today, Christian! God has loved you with an everlasting love; He has promised never to leave you nor forsake you. Keep looking to your Lord, knowing that in His perfect time and in His perfect way, the lesson will come to you, and you will be lifted by what you have learned. You will know, deep down, that your heavenly Father is speaking glorious truth into your life.

Hold fast to these words of heavenly comfort:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you and watch over you.

[T]he Lord’s unfailing love

surrounds the man who trusts in him.

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;

sing, all you who are upright in heart! (Psalm 32:8, 10-11)

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

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.  (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

God wants all of you: your mind, your heart, and your body. How important is your body to God? Do you remember what God required when Aaron was consecrated for the office of High Priest? The sacrificial blood was to be placed on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, on his right thumb, and on his right big toe (Exodus 29:20), which clearly symbolized the whole of his body. All of Aaron was to be consecrated to God—his thoughts, his desires, and his body.

And this is no less true of us. When we are serving our God, we are to be serving Him with everything we have, including our bodies. Jesus said that the most important commandment was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:29-30). God wants all of you!

So . . . on a scale of 1–10 (1 being “Very little” and 10 being “Consistently and joyfully”), how well have you been serving God with your body? Have your feet been on the move with the Good News of the Gospel? Have you been using your hands to wash the feet of others? Remember, God redeemed your body and consecrated it with the blood of the Lamb. He wants all of us to be engaged in fruitful and faithful service.

The apostle Paul’s athletic metaphor of “beating his body” provides a powerful reminder of the importance of disciplining ourselves in the way we use our bodies. He goes on to say that taking control of his body rises to the level of being either qualified or disqualified for ministry.

Here is the key to understanding this incredible biblical truth. When Jesus purchased you with His blood, He purchased all of you, including your body. When you placed your trust in Jesus Christ and His atoning work on your behalf, the Holy Spirit took up residence within you, making your body a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).  Have you given much thought to that? Your body is housing for the Holy Spirit! Paul wrote, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

When we talk about the enemies that come up against us in our service to God—that is, the world, the flesh, and the devil—we see that our bodies are right in the midst of this trio. The Bible warns us that though our spirit may be willing, our flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41); Paul warned the Galatians that our sinful nature actively struggles against the Spirit of God, which keeps us from doing what we want (Galatians 5:17). Therefore, we must remain on guard against the greatest enemy we face . . . ourselves! Selfish impulses can and will steal our focus and pull us off track if we are not careful and diligent in our self-discipline. And that self-discipline should include the basic (but enormously important) matter of maintaining the physical vitality necessary for serving the Lord with your body by making sure you get sound nutrition, adequate rest, and consistent exercise.

How would you complete these two sentences?

One thing I could do to take better care of my body is ____________________.

One thing I must stop doing to take better care of my body is _________________.

Remember, your body is a gift from God, regardless of how you (or the world) might view it. Your body type has been perfectly designed and ordained by God to do everything you have been called to do. You don’t need to compare yourself to others; you shouldn’t wish you had a different body. God did not make a mistake when He knit you together in your mother’s womb!

Do your part in caring for the body you have been given and give back to God the one thing He desires: ALL OF YOU!

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

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.  (Psalm 139:17-18)

Have you ever considered how much you are thought of by Omniscience? The psalmist says the thoughts God has for us are so vast that if one were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand on the sea shore—in other words, our heavenly Father has more thoughts for us than we can ever count!. You might be removed from the mind of a friend or even a family member, but never from the mind of God.

Let this truth comfort you today: you are always on the mind of your Master. You are always in His mind and on His heart. The Lord Jesus Christ thinks of you continually, and each one of those thoughts is designed for your ultimate good. When the sky is blue and the clouds are fleecy, Jesus is thinking of you. When dark clouds fill the sky and the storm winds begin to blow, Jesus is thinking of you. Never is there a set of circumstances or a season when you are not continually thought of by your God.

God is thinking of you when you are striding along the straight and narrow, and He is thinking of you when you are wandering toward the wilderness. You are continually thought of in your joy and in your sorrow . . . in your pain and in your pleasure . . . in your triumph and in your tragedy . . . in your going out and in your coming in. Never are you NOT on the mind of God!

How does that make you feel right now, right where this message finds you? Never let the thought of the unbeliever invade your mind—that God is impersonal and uninvolved in your life. Your God sought you, caught you, and bought you with His precious blood. He so loved you that he gave His only begotten Son so that you might have eternal life!

To know you are on the mind of someone who is important to you, someone whose friendship you value and trust, is a comfort and a source of great encouragement. How much more encouraging is it to know that the King of kings and Lord of lords is continually thinking of you? Listen, if even a sparrow cannot fall to the ground apart from the knowledge and will of God, there is no part of your life that your God is not continually thinking about. If the number of hairs on your head is known by your God, there is nothing going on in your life right now that He does not know and is not in complete control of.

To know that you are continually thought of is to be a source of both comfort and conviction. It is an unspeakable comfort to know the Creator of the universe has set His mind upon you; we should also feel a profound sense of conviction to live each day to its fullest for the glory of the One who has given it to us to live.

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

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 23:10)

Throughout my years in working with the students, I would often tell them, “With God on your side you are always the winning team!” Make no mistake, one IS a majority when God is with you . . . just as He promised you!

Regardless of the obstacles you may be facing today—perhaps even a thousand standing in opposition to you—with God on your side fighting for you, the battle is already won and the victory is assured. You have all you need to climb “the hill Difficulty,” as Bunyan called it, because you have the Lord your God.

God is in the business of establishing “one-man” ministry; He spends no time counting heads.

• God called Abraham to found a nation
• God called Moses to free a nation
• God called Jonah to warn a nation
• God called Esther to save a nation

I’d like to encourage you to prayerfully consider what the Lord your God is calling you to do for His glory. Where in your life right now is God calling you to step out in faith and trust in Him, especially when you simply cannot trace Him? To be sure, King Saul slew his thousands, but the shepherd boy David slew his tens of thousands, because the Lord was fighting for him every step of the way . . . just as He promised.

The unbelieving world thought it had won a great victory on that Good Friday, as Jesus of Nazareth hung on the cross and darkness covered the land. But three days later, a dead man got up and walked out of His grave. Jesus overcame sin, Satan, and death. And the same power that raised Jesus from death to life is the same power that resides in you (Ephesians 1:19-20)! It may appear that the world is poised for a great victory by driving you into the ashes of defeat—personally, professionally, relationally. And that awful outcome would most likely be true if not for the One who fights for you . . . just as He promised you!

When is one a majority? When that one is trusting in THE One who has promised to fight for you and give you the victory.

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

Encourage him!  (Deuteronomy 1:38)

These words were spoken by God to Moses. After God led His people out of bondage in Egypt and guided them through the desert for forty years, sustaining them manna from heaven and twice providing water from a rock, God instructed Moses to encourage Joshua, who would lead the Israelites into their Promised Land.

Notice two things:

• God did not call on the angels to encourage Joshua.
• God called on Moses, who was not even allowed to enter into the Promised Land

The beauty in these two words, “Encourage him,” is found in the fact that God uses His people to encourage His people. We are all called by God to be instruments of encouragement in His mighty right hand.

When you think about it, we are far better suited to encourage one another than an angel would be; an angel knows not what it means to come up against the waves of challenge in life. What angel has ever labored through a dark night of the soul or walked through the valley of the shadow of death? No, it is to each of us to be encouragers to one other.

Encourage one another and build each other up . . .  (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

We met the man called Barnabas in Acts 4:36. His name was Joseph, but the apostles called him Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), because his life was marked by encouraging others.

It grieves me to say this, but I am convinced that far too many in the church today are notable for discouraging others. They seem to live their lives under the proverbial rain cloud that is ready to open up at any moment. They see the glass as half empty, rather than half full. They always seem to find a way to bring others down, rather than lift them up.

But this is not for you! After Paul’s conversion, many Christians did not trust him. After all, this man who now called himself Paul had previously been Saul, a Pharisee who had been actively and eagerly engaged in persecuting the early Christian church. No doubt the believers worried that Paul’s conversion story was just a ruse designed to help him identify, capture, and kill more Christians. When Paul first arrived at Jerusalem, it was Barnabas who refused to question God’s supernatural work in Paul’s life; at great personal risk, he willingly met with Paul. The Son of Encouragement greeted Paul and convinced the other Christian believers to do the same. Later, Barnabas would encourage Paul on his missionary journeys.

Here are two truths to remember: Everyone needs encouragement and everyone can be an encourager.

Are you a Barnabas? What would those closest to you say? Who in your life right now needs a word of encouragement . . . and needs to hear it from you?

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)

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

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  (Ephesians 2:10)

The title for today’s word of encouragement is a play on words from John Bunyan’s classic Christian allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress. After the Bible, it is one of the most important Christian writings for strengthening the faith of all of us who truly are “pilgrims in progress” as we make our way to the Celestial City. The story is a powerful dramatizes the trials, tests, and tribulations that Christian (the pilgrim in progress) faces as he journeys to his home in heaven.

Life places one demand on all of us: that we make measurable progress in reasonable time. How are you doing at that? Are you a pilgrim making progress?

Let me be clear on one very important point at the outset: The progress I am speaking of is not progress toward perfection. We will never be perfect until we reach the other side of the grave and enter into the presence of our Savior. Our progress will always be a mixture of both highs and lows, steps forward and steps back; but nevertheless, it should indeed be progress as we journey toward our home in the new heavens and the new earth.

Like Christian in The Pilgrim’s Progress, we will face countless challenges along the way as we walk with Christ: Worldly Wiseman, Giant Despair, Talkative, Ignorance, and the demons of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. But God has promised to take us through all of them as we progress on our way toward home. And along the way, we will leave a trail of “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Christian, please remember that we are not saved by our good works, but rather we are saved to do good works, which are the clear and present evidence of our salvation at work within us.

And I hope you’ll hold onto this thought also: God does not need our good works, but everyone else in our lives certainly does! Our sanctification should cause us to lead a life of progress in service to others. We are saved to serve, and that service moves in two directions: vertically toward God and horizontally toward everyone else.

So, regardless of where this message finds you today, you are God’s handiwork; you are a work in progress who is to be making progress throughout your Christian life.

Where in your life right now do you need to be making a bit more progress? What is holding you back from being all God is calling you to be today? Remember, pilgrims make progress until they arrive at their final destination.

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

I will heal their waywardness and love them freely.  (Hosea 14:4)

Here we find all the truths of the Gospel in a single word: freely. The Lord Jesus Christ showers His limitless love upon His people, and He does it freely—not because we deserve it and certainly not because we are in a position to demand it.

Marinate in this truth today, and I can assure you that today will be like no other day you have yet lived. This one word—freely—rebukes every proud pharisaical heart that beats for the glory of the self. And it is also to be the healing balm for every broken heart that has been crushed under the weight of sin and shame.

The love of God in Christ Jesus comes to the Christian believer freely, not because of anything we do or don’t do. There is no condition that must first be met in order to experience this love that is freely given to us. It is simply the desire of the One who freely loves. He loves because He is love. And He loves us simply because He chooses to love us!

For [God] chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  (Ephesians 1:4-6)

Imagine for a moment that you believed at some level that the reason for God loving you was rooted in you . . . perhaps because of your faithfulness to God or because of your fruitful service in expanding His kingdom. What would happen when you found yourself less than faithful and far from fruitful? You would question whether or not God still loved you. You might well fear going out in a thunder storm! You would constantly be looking over your shoulder, waiting for God to smite you for your imperfections. But when you read today’s text and see this word freely, you are reading the sweetest note your Savior ever played.

Jesus loved you freely from before the foundation of the world; He wrote your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the earth was formed. Jesus loved you freely when He raised you from death to life. And Jesus loves you freely today, regardless of the love you have—or have not—been giving back to Him.

This truth should absolutely rock your world! The love of God in Christ Jesus is given to us moment by moment, freely, without cost and without measure. Jesus does not give us His love in increments—a little love here and a little love there. Rather, Jesus pours His love down upon us from the fountains of heaven, love as unconditional as it is immeasurable.

So . . . what will that truth do for you today? Will it bring you comfort? Will it inspire you to new heights? Will it convince you that you truly do matter to God? Whatever this truth does for you this day, may it burn within your heart that the God of the universe loves you freely . . . He always has and always will.

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

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

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. (Proverbs 27:1)

Did you know there is one thing that no one who has lived or will live is able to do? That one thing is serve God tomorrow. Many of us plan to serve God tomorrow, but make no mistake, no one has ever done it and no one ever will!

Procrastination is a powerful enemy of the people of God. The word procrastinate comes from two Latin words which, combined, mean “toward tomorrow.” Procrastination whispers, “Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow?” Mark Twain once quipped, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” Procrastination is the mindset of simply being content to look toward tomorrow when we should be living for today.

Without question, procrastination is one of the unhealthiest habits we can develop, because it eliminates any opportunity for progress. When life is calling us to make measurable progress in reasonable time, procrastination tells us to wait for the “right” time or the “perfect” opportunity, when we have all of our proverbial ducks in a row. But somewhere in the back of our minds, we understand that perfection is impossible and unreachable, so we push off until tomorrow what we should be doing today. And tomorrow never comes!

I have allowed procrastination to set me back, and I have also learned from experience that progress can and will be made in less than perfect circumstances, because those are the only circumstances we have!

Regardless of where this message finds you today, isn’t it time to do what you know you ought to do? At the office? In your studies? In your marriage? With your children? For your health? With your finances? At your church? In your community?

Take a moment to prayerfully consider what is fueling your resistance to rising above procrastination. Is it the possibility of moving beyond your comfort zone? Then do what is uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable. It is the prospect of falling short of your intended goals? Falling short isn’t failing unless you fail to get up.

So . . . have you been caught up in doing the one thing that no one can do—serving God tomorrow? We all do, from time to time, which is why we must make a deliberate decision to choose either procrastination or progress. Remember, procrastination in the past does not define who you are. It only defines what you did (or chose not to do). You are a child of the Most High God, and you have been made for greatness. His mercies are new every morning and those mercies should be all the motivation you need to stop procrastinating and begin making progress in the direction God is calling you to go.

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