Grace for the Race

The terms “small print,” “fine print,” and “mouseprint” all refer to less noticeable print that is dwarfed by the more prominent larger print it accompanies.  Small print is frequently used by advertisers selling a product or service.  Some merchants who hope to deceive the consumer into believing an offer is more advantageous than it really is will sidestep the legal technicality which requires full disclosure of all terms or conditions (even the unfavorable ones) by relegating the “bad news” to the tiny type font at the bottom of the page and trumpeting the “good news” of spectacular sale prices with brightly colored oversize type fonts.

The small print often contradicts what the larger print says.  For example, if the large print says “No Credit? No Problem!” the fine print may murmur “Subject to bank approval.”  You are probably familiar with television advertisements that flash small print text in camouflaged colors, and for the briefest periods of time, making it all but impossible to read.

And when the advertiser reads the small print disclaimer out loud, you’d think you suddenly landed in an auction with the fastest speaking auctioneer in the cosmos!  Sadly, we have all grown cynically accustomed to “small print” advertising designed to mislead us about the price, quality, or content of a particular product.

But make no mistake, there is no small print in sacred Scripture, even though many in the pulpit today preach as if there is.  Far too many preach a “small print Savior,” for fear that people will refuse to “sign up” if they know the truth about what is involved.  They preach blessing without burden.  They preach success without sacrifice.  They preach getting without giving.  They preach living without dying.

The irony in all this is the truth that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.  The more we water it down to try to make it more palatable, the more we strip it of its supernatural power.

Listen, the Gospel is designed to both repel and attract.  Sadly, many who sit under shallow “small print” preaching, which is crafted to attract by tickling the ears of the listener, are ill-equipped for the promised trouble to come.

Jesus said the day of tribulation will come; and when it does, if all they have built their faith on has been the shifting sand of small print, they will find themselves tipped over when the waves of challenge begin to wash over them.  They will be confused by challenge, surprised by suffering, and derailed by difficulty.  But this is not for you!

[Jesus] said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”  (Luke 9:23-26)

Jesus refused to hide the truth of the Gospel in small print in order to increase His “success rate.”  In fact, it seems as though He went out of His way to make it clear just how difficult it would be for one to follow Him.  If the rich young ruler showed up in the church today he would be at the top of the list of potential elders.  Yet after a conversation with our Savior, who refused to shroud the Gospel in “small print,” the rich young ruler went away sad.

You see, the Gospel Jesus preached—and the one we are to be preaching with both our lips and our lives—is a Gospel of self-denial and self-sacrifice.  He refused to tell people what they wanted to hear just so He could get someone to sign on the dotted line.  He spoke the truth and the truth was this: to follow Jesus is to follow Him to the cross on the Hill Golgotha, where dying to self is the only way to live for the Savior.

We know the apostles fully understood there was to be no “small print” in sacred Scripture when they spoke these words, which were “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.” The words were: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

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

Many Christians are being held hostage to a failure to forgive.  They simply refuse to get past hurts and wrongs; they trade their liberty in Christ for the prison of the past.  But there is a Gospel solution to this all-too-common problem:

Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?  Up to seven times?”  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”  (Matthew 18:21-22)

So what’s in a number?  When it comes to forgiveness . . . absolutely nothing!  Jesus made it clear to Peter that asking how many times he should forgive someone who has wronged him is the wrong question to ask.  Peter probably thought he was being extra-gracious, that by proposing a seven-times forgiveness plan he was far surpassing the righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  In that day, Jewish tradition limited forgiveness to just three times and then you could write the offender off.

It’s important to point out that Jesus phrase, “seventy-seven times,” can also be translated “seventy times seven.” In fact, the ESV, NASB, and NKJV versions of the Bible all render it that way. The point Jesus was making to Peter and to us was this:

When it comes to forgiveness, there is no number!

In God’s economy, there simply is no limit to the number of times we are to forgive others.  That is because there is no limit to how many times God forgives us.  He is not keeping score and neither should we!

Peter had a hard time getting past the number.  How about you?  Those who are keeping track of forgiveness simply do not understand; they do not fully comprehend the forgiveness they have received in Christ.  When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He said: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”  Really?  Is that what we really want God to do?  To forgive us as we forgive others?  The answer is yes . . . but only if the power of the Gospel has freed us to live a life of unconditional forgiveness.

Now, I don’t want to minimize the pain that the wrongs of another can cause.  Some scars last a lifetime.  And that is why it is so critical to pursue a deeper understanding of the Gospel, so that we can be freed to forgive.  The Gospel accounts describe in excruciating detail what happened to Jesus on our behalf. And yet, while hanging on that dirty tree, Jesus prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

I once heard a man say that “Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and waiting for your enemy to die.”  Jesus knew the damage of an unforgiving heart, and He set the model before us that gives us the power to offer up forgiveness and thus free ourselves from the prison of the past.

To be sure, we can pray for God to deal with every injustice, which He has promised that He will do.  God-centered anger is an appropriate response to injustice, because it is rooted in a concern for God and His Kingdom rather than our own.  And yet it is the power of the Gospel that frees us to leave our righteous indignation at the foot of the cross.

When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.  (Mark 11:25)

It has been said, “Unforgiveness does more damage to the vessel in which it is stored than the object upon which it is poured.”  To forgive as we have been forgiven is to freely forgive, no matter how many times someone has wronged us or hurt us.  And remember: God never asks us to do anything without giving us the grace to get it done.

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

As we walk further up and further into the truths of the Gospel, the Good News almost seems too good to be true.  The more I walk in the truths of the Gospel, the more I am convinced that I need more of the truths of the Gospel . . . simply to believe the truths of the Gospel!  There are days when I echo the cry of the father of the demon-possessed boy in Mark 9:24, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

The cross shouts many things to us.  It shouts that Jesus is committed to saving His people.  It shouts that His people are accepted in the Beloved.  It shouts that the entire work of our salvation has been perfectly completed by our Savior.  But did you know it shouts that He rejoices over you?

As the bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

(Isaiah 62:5)

Jesus, our bridegroom, has made a choice to rejoice over you His bride.  This is not because you have matured over time, like a fine wine.  And it isn’t because you redoubled your efforts and strengthened your commitment to be more faithful.  His choice to rejoice over you is simply that: His choice.  And because His choice doesn’t have its beginnings in you, it won’t have its continuance or its completion in you either.

That is really good news, isn’t it?

• We are accepted because He chooses to accept us.
• We are adopted because He chooses to adopt us.
• We are cared for because He chooses to care for us.
• We are loved because He chooses to love us.

It would be impossible to accept just how much we mean to our Lord if it hadn’t been written down for us in the sacred Scriptures.  And even when we read it in the Gospel over and over, we still need to ask Jesus to help our unbelief.

I think one of the reasons His choice to rejoice over me is so hard to accept is the fact that I know just how bad I really am!  I know my divided affections . . . my idolatry . . . my sinful pride . . . my self-righteousness.  I know that I remove Jesus from the throne of my life and replace Him with a thousand things smaller than Him.  And yet, in spite of all that—in spite of the wretched man that I am—He has made a choice to rejoice over me!

Regardless of where this message finds you today, I encourage you to pause for a moment and receive a good dose of Gospel medication.  Our heavenly Father’s choice to rejoice over you was sealed with Christ’s blood staining a rough cross on Golgotha’s hill.

Still not convinced?  God confirmed the sacrifice of His Son for you by raising Him from the dead on the third day.

Still struggling with doubts?  Today Jesus sits in the position of power, authority, and glory at the right hand of the Father, always making intercession for you, and waiting for that day when He will receive you into glory.

These Gospel truths are the key to rising above the challenges of daily living.  These truths provide the necessary fuel to face every obstacle and overcome every failure, knowing that we wear the spotless wedding garments of His grace.  And that is enough to get us home safely!

One final point: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).  His choice to rejoice over you as His bride never grows cold, never diminishes, and never fades.

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

You hear a lot of talk in the church about “self-esteem” these days.  Self-esteem is a term used in psychology to reflect someone’s overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth.  Self-esteem, also known as self-concept, encompasses both beliefs and emotions. A self-concept based on the truth (“I am a great sinner in need of an even greater Savior”) is good.  A self-concept based on a lie (“I’m a pretty good person; certainly not as bad as most”) is bad.

Only the power of the Gospel frees us to live in the light of the truth with freedom, laughter, joy, and faithfulness to Jesus.  You see, the Gospel frees us from shading the truth about ourselves.  We don’t have to make ourselves out to be better than we actually are, because God loved us while we were sinners and He still loves us while we are sinners.

The power of the Gospel allows us to take off our masks and stop pretending we are holy and pious.  We were sinners when we were first saved and we are still sinners today.  The difference is that we are now saved from our sins.  Knowing this truth, believing this truth, and understanding this truth allows us to accept who we are: fully accepted and blessed in the Beloved.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  (Ephesians 1:3-6)

How incredibly loved you really are! God the Father sent God His Son to die on a cross for you!  There is no greater blessing in the Beloved than to know that you are now forever accepted, because you were bought with His precious blood on Golgotha’s Hill.

You cannot lose your acceptance.  You cannot diminish His love for you.  You cannot make Him angry with you.  The right way for you to view yourself is clothed in the righteousness of Christ, perfectly pleasing in the sight of God.

Now, note that I did not say “perfect.”  None of us is perfect, and we won’t be until we get to the other side of the grave.  But along the way, because of the finished work of Christ, we are perfectly pleasing in the sight of God.  And that truth should impact the way we view ourselves and feel about ourselves, even in the light of our next sin.

Yes, we hate sin.  Yes, we are filled with a godly sorrow when we sin and recognize our own unworthiness.  But we are still sinners saved by grace; the more unworthy we feel ourselves to be, the more evidence we have for the unconditional and unending love of God in Christ.

People may doubt your salvation.  Satan may whisper in your ear that you are far too unworthy to be an object of God’s love.  But don’t you listen to it for a moment!  Remember, “He that spared not His own son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).  A right view of you is you are His today, tomorrow, and forever more.

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

There is a saying: “Some people are so stingy, they’ll squeeze a quarter until the eagle screams!”  But this is no way to live for the Christian who understands the generosity of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Let’s take a brief look.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”  (Philippians 2:5-8)

If that passage does not present a solution to stinginess, I don’t know what will!  These words, penned by the apostle Paul, are foundational to comprehending the generosity of Jesus in the Gospel.

Imagine the King of the universe making Himself nothing for you!  The second person of the Trinity took on the nature of a servant: made in human likeness, born of the Virgin Mary, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger.  The King of kings and the Lord of lords went from the glorious throne of heaven to a dark, smelly stable in Bethlehem.

If that wasn’t enough, Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—and not just any death, but death by crucifixion.  There is no greater picture of God’s love and care for you than His precious Son dying on a cross.  God held nothing back in the redemption of His people . . . not even His precious Son!

Do you remember the account in Genesis 22, when Abraham went up Mount Moriah with his son Isaac, fully prepared to sacrifice Isaac for God? God graciously provided another sacrifice.  God explained to Abraham, “Now I know you love me.”  Of course, God always knew; it was Abraham who needed to know just how much he loved his God.

How much do we know that God loves us!  He turned His Son over to the scourge, the nails, the cruel cross.  Listen to me: the solution to stinginess is not found in trying harder to be more generous!  It is to be found
in developing a deeper understanding of what God in Christ has done for us.  Redoubling our efforts will always leave us frustrated and wanting.  It is in redoubling our understanding of the truths of the Gospel that we will find freedom from slavery to our “stuff” and the ultimate solution to any kind of stinginess!

The more deeply we understand the generosity of Jesus, the more confident we become in looking only to Him for our security.  We are free to give away what we have to bless others because we have everything we need in Him!

Only the Gospel can restructure our motivations and reorient our hearts to live for something bigger than ourselves.  God refused to withhold anything we needed to be with Him.  Our Lord gave up all His treasure in heaven in order to make us His treasure.  We must let that truth guide our hearts and hands as we pour ourselves out for the cause of Christ in a way that brings glory to God and good to all others.

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

Today is the second part of my exposition of Ephesians 5:15-20. On Monday I discussed why we are to redeem the time; today I’ll offer some suggestions for how to redeem it.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How To Redeem The Time

The Bible makes it clear that the only way we can redeem the time is to understand what God has put us here to do.  Jesus explained His mission succinctly: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).  Jesus knew what He was here to do and He didn’t let anything distract or deter Him from doing it.

So the first step in redeeming the time is in knowing what your time is to be used for.  We don’t want to find ourselves like Alice in Wonderland, who came to a crossroad and paused to ask the Cheshire Cat which way she should go.  The Cat asks Alice where she is going.

“I don’t much care where—” Alice says.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” the Cat sagely observes.

We must recognize that it always matters to God which way we go.  He knows the abundant life will only be experienced when we live in the center of His will for our lives.  If we don’t take time to understand God’s plan for our lives, we will always fit into somebody else’s plan.

Here are three keys to redeeming the time; the acronym R.P.M. will help you recall them.

KEY # 1 Rhythm – Redemption has its own rhythm of confession and forgiveness. We have our own rhythms: some of us are early birds and some are night owls.  Some wake to an alarm clock; others to an opportunity clock.  Some wake up with a cheery, “Good Morning, Lord!” while others groan, “Good Lord! Morning?”  My years in Fire-Rescue and operating the Wellness Center conditioned me to an early bird rhythm.  Knowing when you work best allows you to do your best work.

KEY # 2 Prioritize – The most important things to do in life may not always be the most urgent.  To be sure, your job may be more demanding and urgent, but it will never be as important as your family.

Jesus used the Sermon on the Mount to sharpen our focus: “Where your treasure is, there you heart will also be” (Matthew 6:21).  So . . . where is your treasure?  If you aren’t sure, take some time to examine how you use your discretionary time and money.  What we spend our “extra” money on after all the necessities are paid for and how we use our “free” time are inarguable identifiers of what we consider priorities and where we locate our treasure.

KEY #3 MODEL – Model the Master, who always redeemed the time.  Jesus was never at the mercy of the strongest wind that was blowing at the moment.  Nowhere in Scripture can we find Jesus hurrying to get things done.  He never had too much on His plate.  If your plate is over-filled, you can be certain that God was not wielding the serving spoon!

Here are a few examples of modeling the Master:

Prayer—Mark 1:35

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.   

Bible Intake—Matthew 4:4

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 

Corporate Worship—Luke 4:16

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. 

Service—John 13:4-6

[Jesus] got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Rest—Mark 6:31

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Community— Matt 12:49-50

 Pointing to his disciples, [Jesus] said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

The Wise Preacher put it best: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).  When we find our rhythm, get clear on our priorities, and model our Master, we will, by God’s grace, see a return on our investment of time that will echo in eternity.

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

Today is the first part of a two-part message I preached a few weeks ago on “redeeming the time,” based on the Scripture passage in Ephesians 5:15-20:

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why Redeem The Time?

The obvious reason “why” is simply because God tells us to redeem the time.  Every second of our lives is a gift from God.  Our gift back to Him is in how we choose to live it.  In the Ephesians passage above, Paul tells us to be careful how we live so we can “make the most of every opportunity” that God gives to us.  Let’s take a look at one suggested summary of the activities that fill a typical lifespan of 70 years:

Sleep                           23 years                                  32.9%

Work                           16 years                                  22.8%

TV                                8 years                                    11.4%

Eating                          6 years                                    8.6%

Travel                          6 years                                    8.6%

Leisure                        4.5 years                                 6.5%

Illness                          4 years                                    5.7%

Dressing                      2 years                                    2.8%

Religion                       0.5 years                                0.7%

Total                            70 years                                  100%

Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon titled The Preciousness of Time, in which he said, “Things are precious in proportion to their importance, or to the degree wherein they concern our welfare.  Being uncertain of its continuance—knowing how little of it remains, whether years, months, weeks, days or hours—we ought to see the preciousness of time.”

When you look at the numbers in the table above in light of what Edwards preached, religion is not that precious to the average individual.  How is it with you?

Funny thing about time: there is no inherent value in it until it is invested.  If we invest our time on stuff that truly doesn’t matter, we end up living a life that truly doesn’t matter.  But when we invest our time on things that have eternal value, we end up living a life of eternal value.  I’ve learned the hard way that the greatest time waster in the world is doing something God doesn’t want me to do . . . and having to clean up the mess afterwards!

Since time is a gift from God, we are stewards of it . . . not owners.  Each week God gives us 168 hours to use any way we choose.  The wise person is described in Scripture as one who redeems those hours by investing them in the advancement of the kingdom of God in every area of life.  We are to advance the kingdom of God in our homes with our families, at work with our co-workers, in our communities with our neighbors, and in our recreation with our friends.  Everything we do is to be done for the glory of God; that will only happen when we are in some way advancing His kingdom in this world.

We are His ambassadors on mission to redeem our time for the advancement of the cause of our King.  What we need to remember is if we don’t order our time someone else will do it for us.  The problem with that is that they might want us to be filling our time in ways that might not be what God wants for us.  We must live as the psalmist instructs: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).  We do not want to live as the person Pascal describes: “The last thing one knows is what to put first.”

The choice is clear for the Christian.  Jesus Christ is to be our first priority in every aspect of our lives.  We are to live coram Deo—that is, “before the face of God.”  Living before the face of God means living under his authority and living for His glory moment by moment.  And it is the truths of the Gospel that free us to live this way—not in order to gain His favor, but because we already have it, thanks to the finished work of our King.

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

Disenchantment is the feeling of being disappointed with something and no longer believing that it is good, useful, or worthwhile. It is the overwhelming feeling of disillusionment you feel when something or someone has not lived up to your expectations.  And it is a great and glorious grace when disenchantment is rooted in anything smaller than God!

When we build our hopes, our dreams, our trust, our worth, our identity, perhaps our very existence on anything smaller than God, that thing (or person) will always leave us wanting.  Whenever we put anything on the throne of our lives expect the One who rightfully should be there, we set ourselves up for disenchantment . . . and that is one of God’s great graces given to every Christian.

Whether we are in hot pursuit of a person, a pastime, a profession, or a possession, when we finally get what we wanted, it isn’t long before we realize it is utterly unable to deliver on what we thought it promised.  We wind up disappointed, disillusioned, and desperate for our next “fix.”  But instead of driving us to despair, the grace of disenchantment should drive us back to the only One who can meet us in our place of deepest need: that One is Jesus Christ.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  (Colossians 3:1-2)

God will deliver the grace of disenchantment whenever we set our hearts on earthly things and place them above Christ.  Now, please don’t misunderstand what I am saying: loving our families, caring for our children, working hard on our jobs, and enjoying our recreation are all good things.  But when we make good things into ultimate things (by setting our hearts on them and placing them above Jesus), then they become bad things.  They become idols of the heart that enslave us, because our hearts are yearning for something smaller than God.  When any of these desires becomes our deepest desire, we are on our inevitable way to disenchantment.

We will only be immune from disenchantment when we regard Jesus as our ultimate treasure.  Only Jesus can deliver on every one of His promises.  The promise of meaning and purpose is realized only in Him.  The promise of success and significance is realized only in Him.  The promise of approval and acceptance is realized only in Him.  The promise of rest and relaxation is realized only in Him.  The promise of peace, pleasure, and prosperity is realized only in Him.  Everything we are looking for in everything smaller than Jesus we already have in Him.

So . . . have you been dealing with any disenchantment lately?

To be sure, Jesus has given us the good gifts of this life and He wants us to enjoy them to their fullest.  But we will only enjoy them rightly when they maintain their proper place in our hearts.  When Jesus is our ultimate love, then we can we love all these other things appropriately, without our affection rising to the level of adoration.  God will tolerate no rival.  When we put anything in our lives ahead of the Lord of all our lives, we can be certain the grace of disenchantment is not far behind.

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

Many Christians who come to me for pastoral counseling are locked solidly in the grip of guilt.  They simply cannot get past a past littered with sin . . .

• The sin of self-rule
• The sin of self-focus
• The sin of self-righteousness
• The sin of self-centeredness
• The sin of self-love

And the list goes on and on and on.  This is the place the devil wants us to live.  He wants us to wallow in the past, which keeps us from living in the present.  To be sure, the devil cannot take you out of the nail-scarred hands of your Savior (John10:28), but he can get you to focus so tightly on your sinful past that you never live in the forgiven present of your God-given potential.

Living in the grip of guilt stunts our growth, slows our progress, and shuts off the flow of God’s blessings to our lives.  In other words, we take a truncated view of the glorious Gospel.  We view the work of Christ on our behalf as incomplete in its ability to save us “to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25) and remove all of our guilt.

But this is not for you!

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  (Romans 8:1-4)

If Paul did not believe what he wrote, he never would have been able to rise above a past littered with sin—and not just your common, garden-variety sin, but his approving role in the execution of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Read Paul’s words carefully, remembering he was the one who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death.

Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

(1 Timothy 1:13-15)

How could Paul see himself as the “chief sinner” and still do the work God called him to do?  The answer is that Paul had a clear view of the Gospel and refused to be held in the devil’s grip of guilt.

John Newton wrote one of the most beloved Christian hymns, Amazing Grace. Newton wrote those wonderful lyrics with the full knowledge and remembrance of his past life as a notorious slave trader.  So how could he rise above this horrible history and faithfully serve his Savior until he passed into glory?  Like Paul, Newton had a clear view of the Gospel and refused to be held in the devil’s grip of guilt.

So . . . what about you? How clear is your view of the Gospel?  Check your guilt and remember these words John Newton uttered shortly before his death at the age of 82: “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.”

Now that is what we should remember as we respond to God’s call in our lives; God’s grace is greater than all our sins! And so we are to shake free from the grip of guilt, no matter what our past was like.

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

Are there any words or phrases etched in your memory today that have negatively impacted your life?  The answer for most people is a resounding “YES,” as they recall harsh words that cut to the bone:

• I’m fed up with you!
• I’m sick of you!
• You’ll never amount to anything!
• I hate you!
• I wish you were dead!

We have all been on the receiving end of “words of mass destruction,” whether they were delivered intentionally or unintentionally.  Sadly, we have also been on the giving end of destructive dialogue, sometimes intentionally and at other times unintentionally.

Let me ask you this: are there any words or phrases etched in your memory today that have positively impacted your life?  The answer, I hope, is a resounding “YES” if you think about it for a moment, knowing full well that the bad talk has a tendency to drown out the good talk.

• I’m proud of you!
• You’re awesome!
• I am so thankful for you!
• I believe in you!
• You can do it!

Now, let me ask you a very important question: is your life today shaped more by words of mass destruction or words of divine destiny?  As a follower of Jesus Christ, the answer should be—it must be—words of divine destiny, because Jesus spoke and continues to speak life-giving words into your life moment by moment.

One of the best ways to reshape a life that has been shaped by destructive talk is to read the Word of God daily and meditate on it throughout the day.  God’s Word will silence destructive talk that has been directed at you by exchanging it for words that revive and restore . . . heal and help . . . build and bless.

God loves you so much that He wants to have the last word in every situation.  To be sure, you cannot control what others say to you. I am convinced that some people have the “gift” of delivering words of mass destruction.  But what you can control is what you allow to sink into your spirit and shape your life.

Can you imagine the words that were said about the prostitute who showed up at the Pharisee’s house?  She was despised and hated by the religious elite . . . and she knew it.  But she refused to let their words direct and control her life.  In the face of words of mass destruction, she enters where she is not welcome and washes the feet of Jesus with her tears and dries them with her hair.  She refused to be a casualty of cruel words.  Instead she went to the only place where words give life . . . and that place is at the feet of Jesus.

Have you been there lately?  It’s the perfect place to exchange words of mass destruction for words of divine destiny.  Let’s close out today with just a few of them.

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”  (Jeremiah 31:3)

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

(Matthew 11:28)

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:20)

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  (Romans 8:31)

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.  (Philippians 4:13)

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