Grace for the Race

As a pastor, I hear that question often.Generally after a service someone will come up to me and ask, “If Jesus did it all and we are no longer bound by the law, what difference does it make if we are obedient or not, seeing as we are fully loved and completely forgiven?”

To which I invariably reply, “It makes all the difference in the world!”We are finally and fully motivated to please God because we are fully loved and completely forgiven.Our obedience flows from a heart that overflows with thanksgiving for all Jesus has done for us andhas promised to complete in us.

So . . . why obey if Jesus is the only way?LOVE!In his book, The Disciplines of Grace,Jerry Bridges writes:

Love for God, then, is the only acceptable motive for obedience to Him.This love may express itself in a reverence for Him and a desire to please Him, but those expressions must spring from love.Without the motive of love, my apparent obedience may be essentially self-serving.Negatively, I may fear God will punish me, or at least withhold His blessing from me, because of some disobedience.I may abstain from a particular sinful action out of fear I will be found out or because I don’t want to feel guilty afterward.Positively, I may be seeking to earn God’s blessing through some pious actions.I may conform to a certain standard of conduct because I want to fit in with and be accepted by the Christian culture in which I live.I might even obey outwardly because I have a compliant temperament, and it is simply my “nature” to obey my parents, or my teacher, or civil authorities, or even God.

Think back for a moment: can you remember a time when your obedience was rooted in either the negative or the positive—the desire to avoid punishment or to gain a reward?To be sure, negative and positive motivations may in fact change behavior.But make no mistake;these motivations simply cannot transform the heart.Only love for our Lord can do that, and only behavior that is rooted in the love of God is worthy of being called obedience.

We don’t obey because of what we can get or avoid getting; we obey because we love the One who loved us enough to give us everything good we have:

• ·Pardon
• ·Forgiveness
• ·Adoption
• ·Salvation
• ·Eternal Life
• ·Everyday life in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit

We obey because we are overwhelmed by the amazing love of our willing Savior, who hung on our cross in order to give us every spiritual blessing.Jesus suffered the penalty we should have suffered for our sin . . . and He was without sin.He was perfect in every way,yet instead of being glorified by us He was crucified by us.Instead of being honored, He was dishonored in the worst way.

For Christ’s love compels us . . .  (2 Corinthians 5:14)

Jesus took our place out of love.He was born because He loved us.He lived a sinless life because He loved us.He died a sacrificial death because He loved us.He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father because He still loves us and will continue loving us for all eternity.So the only right motive for any kind of obedience on our part must flow out of a heart that loves Jesus.“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Think about this:more important than our obedience is the motive behind it.Obedience that does not come from a heart that beats for the love of Christ is disobedience.Only obedience that is rooted in love is true obedience.Make no mistake; what we do matters to God.But why we do it matters more.Jesus is the only way, and we obey to simply say, “Lord, how I love you!”

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

The experience of life tells us if we are not currently dealing with storms, we will be in the near future. Storms are simply part of living. Some are like summer showers that disrupt a day at the beach. Others, however, are like tsunamis that devastate our lives.

Regardless of the storm, we can find great comfort in knowing our Savior is in the middle of it with us. We have a Savior who can sympathize with us because He suffered the greatest storm the world has ever seenwhile He was nailed to a cross atop the hill Golgotha.

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

From the 6^th to the 9^th hour Jesus was alone in a way that you and I simply cannot imagine. His Father could no longer look upon His Son because of His abhorrence of all things evil in this world. So for the first time ever, in all of eternity, the Father and the Son were separated. Why? Because the sins of all who have ever placed—or will ever place—their trust in Christ had been laid on God the Son (Isaiah 53:6), and the eyes of God the Father are too pure to even look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13).

To be sure, Jesus enduredterrible pain at the hands of His executioners. Isaiah predicted that the Roman soldiers would beat the suffering Servant so savagely that He would no longer be recognizable (Isaiah 52:14).He was brutally flogged, a crown of thorns was jammed down into His brow, and his hands and feet were pierced through by nine-inch iron spikes.

But as dreadful as all that was, it amounted to little more than a mosquito bite compared to the unimaginable anguish of drinking the cup of God’s wrath for our sins. Our Lord’s despairing cry—“Why have you forsaken me?”—came after He had hung for three hours in darkness, a darkness caused by the darkness of our sin.

So we have a Savior who knows what it is to be in the middle of hurricane-force storm winds infinitely worse than any we will ever experience. And the encouragement in that for you and me is thatno matter what storm we are facing or ever will face, we will never face it alone.

[Jesus said] “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:20)

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”(Hebrews 13:5)

So . . . what storms are you facing today? What waves of challenge have you come up against that are trying to drive you down to the bottom of your sea?

• ·Mistakes in your marriage?
• ·Stumble in your single walk with Christ?
• ·Pressures in your parenting?
• ·Passed over in your profession?
• ·Stagnant in your church service?

Someone once wisely said, “We are either heading into a storm, we are in the middle of a storm, or we are coming out of a storm . . . so be better get used to storms!”

One of the most comforting things Jesus ever said were two of His last words on the cross, uttered shortly before He gave up His spirit: “I thirst” (John 19:28).Remarkably, this was foreshadowed more than a thousand years previously by David’s Psalm 22:15—“My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.”

Why, you may wonder, would I comment on this seemingly insignificant detail of the crucifixion? Because it is so very significant! These details shout a great truthto us: at the center of Christianity is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and He is not remote from the difficulties of our human existence. He was not only fully God; He was fully man, and in His manhood He endured every kind of storm we will ever have to experience, yet without sin.

He was tried. He was tested. He was rejected by high society. He was tempted. He got tired, thirsty, and hungry. He wept. He was betrayed. He was falsely accused. He was abandoned. He cried out for His Father and got no answer. He walked where we walk and experienced what we experience (and much worse!) and He has promised to be right there with us in the middle of whatever storm winds blow our way.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you . . . Because I live, you also will live.  (John 14:18-19)

Do you believe that truth? Does that truth bring you comfort today in the middle of your storm? If you will let that truth drop from your head down into your heart . . . it will!

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

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September to celebrate the economic and social contributions of workers.Today I would like to celebrate the contributions of all workers who are busily engaged in building the kingdom of God.

First we need to ask, “Who is a kingdom builder?”Is the designation reserved only for those who are in full-time vocational ministry, like pastors and missionaries?If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you know how I’ll answer to that question . . . with a resounding “NO!”

Here are some profound words from Os Guinness on this subject,taken from his book, The Call:

There is a great distortion which argues that Christ gave two ways of life to his church.One is the perfect life, the other is permitted.The perfect life is spiritual, dedicated to contemplation and reserved for priests, monks, and nuns; the permitted life is secular, dedicated to action and open to such tasks as soldering, governing, farming, trading, and raising families.Higher vs. lower, sacred vs. secular, perfect vs. permitted, contemplation vs. action.

Sadly, this two-tier or double-life view of calling flagrantly perverted biblical teaching by narrowing the sphere of calling and excluding most Christians from its scope.If all that a believer does grows out of faith and is done for the glory of God, then all dualistic distinctions are demolished.There is no higher/lower, sacred/secular, perfect/permitted, contemplative/active, or first class/second class.

Calling is the premise of Christian existence itself.Calling means that everyone, everywhere, and in everything fulfills his or her (secondary) callings in response to God’s (primary) calling.For the Reformers, the peasant and the merchant—for us, the business person, the teacher, the factory worker, and the television anchor—can do God’s work (or fail to do it) just as much as the minister and the missionary.

The recovery of the holistic understanding of calling was dramatic.William Tyndale wrote that if our desire is to please God, pouring water, washing dishes, cobbling shoes, and preaching the Word is all one.William Perkins claimed “polishing shoes was as sanctified and holy act and the action of a shepherd in keeping sheep, performed as I have said in his kind, is as good a work before God as in the action of a judge in giving sentence, or of a magistrate in ruling, or a minister in preaching.”

The cultural implications of recovering true calling were explosive.Calling gave to everyday work a dignity and spiritual significance under God that dethroned the primacy of leisure and contemplation.Calling gave to humble people and ordinary tasks an investment of equality that shattered hierarchies and was a vital impulse toward democracy.Calling gave to such practical things as work, thrift,and long-term planning a reinforcement that made them powerfully influential in the rise of modern capitalism.Calling gave to the endeavor to make Christ Lord of every part of life a fresh force that transformed churches and cultures.Calling gave to the idea of “talents” a new meaning, so that they were no longer seen purely as spiritual gifts and graces but as natural and a matter of giftedness in the modern sense of the term.Calling demanded and inspired the transforming vision of the lordship of Christ expressed in the famous saying of the great Dutch prime minister, Abraham Kuyper: “There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘This is mine! This belongs to me!’”

WOW!Now that should help us all see the vision and value of calling from God’s perspective.From our first parents in the Garden of Eden, all of life was to be lived coram deo—before the face of God.It didn’t matter if one was a butcher, baker, or candle-stick maker . . . or a priest, monk, or nun, every service is sacred when it is lived out in the light of eternity for the glory of God.

So who are the “kingdom builders” for the King of kings and the Lord of lords?Everyone who is putting their gifts, talents, and abilities into faithful service in order to glorify God and expand the cause of His kingdom.

This Labor Day, take a moment to do a personal evaluation in the area of your calling and see if you have been imagining any sacred/spiritual split?How is your work impacting the kingdom of God?How are you allowing God to use you right where you currently are to expand the cause of His kingdom?

Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31}

As I often tell my congregation, there is only one menial job in this world: that is the job where Jesus cannot be found.If your labor is a labor of love for the glory of God, the good of others, and the expansion of God’s kingdom, you can rest assured that what you are doing, regardless of what others might think of it, echoes in eternity.

Thousands gathered in Washington recently to observe the 50^th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr delivering his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. There’s another quote from Dr. King that has been circulating recently that is just perfect for closing out today’s meditation:

If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music … Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: “Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”

You are to be celebrated today for living for something that will outlast your life on this side of the grave.Laboring for the Lord means you are living for the transcendent glories of God, regardless of what you do for a living.Let that truth bless you this Labor Day.

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

If Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world—and He is—then we must understand that we are not saved by our own good works.No matter how good we are, we simply can never be good enough to save ourselves.It comes down to our understanding of an important theological term.My former seminary professor, Dr. R.C.Sproul, explained it this way:

The root of sin is pride and enmity against God, the spirit seen in Adam’s first transgression, and sinful acts always have behind them thoughts and desires that one way or another express the willful opposition of the fallen heart to God’s claims on our lives . . .

“Original sin,” meaning sin derived from our origin, is not a biblical phrase (it comes from Augustine), but it does bring into focus the reality of sin in our spiritual system. Original sin does not mean that sin belongs to human nature as such; “God made man upright” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Nor does it mean that the processes of reproduction and birth are sinful…Rather, “original sin” means that sinfulness marks everyone from birth, in the form of a heart inclined toward sin, prior to any actual sins; this inner sinfulness is the root and source of all actual sins; it is transmitted to us from Adam, our first representative before God. The doctrine of original sin makes the point that we are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners, born with a nature enslaved to sin.

If we have not placed our trust in Christ’s atoning work on our behalf, it is impossible to please God and earn His favor. Our sin-filled condition, which we inherited from Adam, makes it impossible for us to stand before a holy God.As Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome, “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:12). In short, we are born under a sentence of eternal death; we desperately need a Savior, and His name is Jesus Christ.

Once we settle the issue that we have not been saved by our good works, we must understand that we have been saved to good works.To be sure, God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does.Our good works put our good God on display to the watching world. They give those who are not believers an accurate picture of thegracious God who loved the world so much He sent His Son to save all those would believe in Him (John 3:16).

You know what has happened throughout Judea . . . how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good. (Acts 10:37a, 38)

Jesus “went around doing good,” and most often it was to those who were, in the eyes of sophisticated society, bad—really bad.Jesus did good to prostitutes, Samaritans, and even tax collectors, who were perhaps the most despised of all Jews, being seen as mercenary traitors to their people.Jesus did good to the sick, the broken, and the marginalized.And, as His image bearers, we too should be going around and doing good.

So . . . how would you rate yourself in the area of doing good?How would those closest to you answer that question?In God’s infinite wisdom, we have been saved—not by our good worksbut to do good works.

Let me close today’s encouragement with a marvelous exhortation from John Wesley:

Do all the good you can.By all the means you can. In all the ways you can.In all the places you can.At all the times you can.To all the people you can.As long as ever you can.

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

Over the years I have had the privilege of working with some of the most successful people in business, sports, and life.The one common denominator for those who were not Christian believers was found in how they went about justifying their existence.It was always and only located in what they did for a living.They did not find their identity in the One who created them, as a Christian does, but in the life they were creating for themselves.

This contrast is best portrayed in the two main characters in one of my favorite movies,Chariots of Fire.

Based on a true story set in the 1920’s, it follows British sprinters Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, who could not be more different and develop an intense on-track rivalry, both running for completely different reasons.Liddell, born in China to Scottish missionary parents, runs to honor God and spread the Gospel.Abrahams is a Lithuanian Jew who feels keenly the anti-Semitism of British society.Even though his father became wealthy and was able to send him to elite Cambridge University, he feels he will never measure up and be fully accepted; he runs for the approval and applause of man.

What begins as a classic conflict of man against man evolves into a study of inner strength as they battle the expectations of others, and must find victory in being true to their hearts and convictions.Liddell’s father encourages him, “Run in God’s name and let the world stand back in wonder.”Liddell tells his sister, “I believe that God made me for a purpose, for future missionary work in China, but He also made me fast.And when I run I feel His pleasure.To give that up would be to hold Him in contempt.”He uses his celebrity to attract an audience to evangelistic services in cities where he competes.Abrahams, on the other hand, runs to prove himself, saying, “I am going to take them on, all of them, one by one, and run them off their feet.”

When Liddell learns that the qualifying heats for his 100-meter dash are scheduled for a Sunday afternoon, he decides he cannot in clear conscience compete on the Lord’s Day.When he informs team officials, they are dismayed and attempt to change his mind.The impasse is resolved when a teammate slated to run in Thursday’s 400-meter race offers his place to Liddell. Liddell and the officials gratefully accept. In a marvelous juxtaposition, we then see Abrahams and others competing on Sunday, while Liddell preaches in a Paris church, quoting from Isaiah 40 (“Behold, the nations are as a drop in the bucket, and are counted as the small dust in the balance. … All nations before him are as nothing. … He bringeth the princes to nothing”). Abrahams goes on to win the 100-meter race and Liddell the 400, both in record time. At the end of the movie, we learn that Abrahams eventually became a lawyer, journalist, and leader in the British sports establishment. Liddell, true to his calling, served as a missionary to China and died in a Japanese prison camp at the end of World War II.

What a difference a divine conviction makes!One man runs for personal glory and one man runs for God’s glory.One man runs to build a monument to man’s glory and one man runs to build a monument to God’s glory.The one who is building a monument for his own glory crystallizes in two of the most profound statements ever uttered by a man on the run from God, powerfully expressing the emptiness of a life without God at the center:

“Contentment? I am 24 and I’ve never known it.I’m forever in pursuit

and I don’t even know what I am chasing.

“And now, in one hour’s time, I will be out there again.I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds

to justify my existence.But will I?”

These two statements are the bookends in the unbeliever’s life.There is no contentment apart from Christ because Christ is the only source of contentment in the cosmos.Their lives are marked by continual activity: running, running, running—without ever knowing what they are chasing; working, working, working—without ever knowing what they are working for.And when and if they ever get what they are running after or working for, the satisfaction only lasts for a moment and then they must be off again chasing after the next thing that will quiet the unrelenting cry of their soul and medicate the unending ache in their heart.

Ten lonely seconds turns into a lifetime of lonely seconds when a person is trying to justify their existence outside of their Creator.These statements are as sad as they are familiar in a world on the run from God.Like Adam in the Garden, they are naked, ashamed, and afraid of who they are and what they have become, so they run from the only One who can give to them everything they need to justify their existence and validate their worth.

So . . . where are you seeking your significance?Harold was seeking significance in 10 lonely seconds on a trackand never found it.Eric sought significance in 6 lonely hours on a crossand, by God’s grace,he found it in a bleeding, wounded, dying Savior.One was looking inside of himself for meaning and purpose.The other was looking beyond himself to a Savior.

The unbelieving world strains, trying to fill that hole in the soul with 10 lonely seconds, repeated over and over again until they take their last breath, buttheir self-justification project will never produce the desired results.The temporal simply cannot do what only the eternal can.

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

When was the last time you felt like two completely different people?If you are anything like me, you felt that way recently—praising God one minute and fussing and fuming the next! Well, I have a word of comfort for every child of God who does not always act like a child of God . . . and wonders why.

In the 19^th century, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a short suspense novel, titledThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson explored the concept of two different people living inside one body.In an effort to become a better person, Dr. Jekyll, a mild-mannered man of science, developed a potion that was meant to separate his “good self” from his “bad self.” After drinking the concoction, however,Dr. Jekyll’s bad side turned out to be much more evil than he had ever imagined. At night he becamethe mysterious Mr. Hyde, a violent man who cared only for his own desires.

When Dr. Jekyll realizedthe extent of his own depravity, he tried to clamp down on his Mr. Hyde side, resolving not to take the potion anymore.But Hyde had become too strong. Despairing of ever changing himself for the good, Dr. Jekyll took his own life.

I was reminded of this Jekyll-Hyde conflict as I prepared to preach a message titled “The Believer’s Battle,” which unpacked the ongoing struggle within the sinner-saint Paul described in the seventh chapter of Romans. Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul confirmedwhat you and I experience every day: the truth that every Christian struggles with his “old self” (his sinful nature by birth) and his “new self” (his Spirit-filled nature by re-birth).

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing.(Romans 7:15-19)

The greatest struggle Paul faced was not outside of him . . . and Paul’s life was marked by constant struggle!He was flogged, beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked three times, he spent a night and a day in the open sea, he was imprisoned, falsely accused, went hungry and thirsty and cold, and he felt the weight of his concern for the purity,unity, and growth of all the fledgling Christian churches (2 Corinthians 11:25-28).And yet, as bad as all those hardships were, Paul’s inward struggle with indwelling sin grieved him far more.

However, Paul’s story does not end in tragedy like Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll. No, Paul’s story ends with sanctification and ultimately glorification when God brought him home.

To be sure, indwelling sin still remained in Paul, just as it remains in us, but it no longer reigned in him and one day it would be gone forever. Unlike Dr. Jekyll, Paul did not despair of ever changing himself for the good because the Holy Spirit was doing it for him.Paul was being conformed to the likeness of Christ daily, but along the way, he would battle with his old nature . . . and he would lose some of those battles.So will you and I. But the ultimate victory was assured because of the cross work of Christ.Paul knew his daily battle would not be won though his resolve but rather, through his trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.And what was true for Paul then is true for all of us today.

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

I’m sure you’re familiar with targets that have rings of concentric circles marked on them; the smallest circle in the center is called the “bull’s-eye,” which is the point on the target where you score the most points when you hit it.

Did you know that every Christian believer has a bull’s-eye to aim for?

From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”  (Romans 11:36)

Jesus Christ is to be the center of everything for the believer. He is to be the believer’s “bull’s-eye” in every area of life. Now, we all know Jesus is to be the center of our religious lives, but we tend to forget that He is also to be the center of our personal and professional lives as well. He is to be the center of our marriages. He is to be the center of our parenting. He is to be the center of our jobs and careers. There is no possession, no part of our lives that does not belong to Jesus. He is the target we are to aim at, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

If you are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, you will remember that God was their bull’s-eye, in that He was the target of their very existence. Their humanity was only to be found in the One who created them. But they chose to put independence and selfish ambition in the center of their target and sent all of humanity into a death spiral that has lasted ever since. It was not enough to be made in the image of God; our first parents wanted to be their own god, and they removed the God from the center of their very existence and put themselves there.

Think of what the devil promised Adam and Eve. He promised them more and they got less. He promised them life and they got death. When we remove Christ from the center of our target, even if we continually hit the dead center of our “me target” and get everything we want, we will always be left wanting. Jesus is the only One who can meet us in our place of deepest need, every moment of every day. It’s only when Christ is your bull’s-eye that you have the power to rise above the pull of the passions of this world.

Only Jesus can incapacitate your love of self and recalibrate it to center on Him. To move Jesus to the periphery of our lives is no life at all. It is a “Christ-less Christianity” that shrinks the size of our lives down to the size of our lives. In that kind of shrunken existence, we live for the expansion of our own little kingdom rather than God’s big kingdom.

So how do we keep Christ at the center of our target? We keep the cross He was nailed to on our behalf in view. We see His wounds. We hear His cries and witness His anguish. In doing that, we realize that living for anything smaller than Jesus is not life . . . it is slow, certain death.

With the Gospel in view, Jesus remains at the center of our lives. He sits upon the throne of our lives as our only hope in an otherwise hopeless situation. For apart from Christ, all hope is lost. But with Jesus as our bull’s-eye, we can know that our life has meaning, direction, and purpose that will live on into eternity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)

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

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

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

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