Grace for the Race

Today is our final installment of a three-part series on self-examination, inspired by Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 11:28, “Let a person examine himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”  On Monday we examined the motivation of the heart—the why behind what you do.  On Wednesday we explored one of the most important areas in all of life: relationships.  Today we will conclude with a discussion of “transcendence,” with the goal of determining if you are pursuing it in a God-centered way.

So what is this thing called transcendence?  For our purposes, the word transcendence is used in reference to God’s relation to the world.  He is above, beyond, and completely outside of the ordinary.  Being made in God’s image, man is hard-wired for transcendence—living above, beyond, and outside the borders of our lives.  It is stamped into the DNA of every human being to transcend the boundaries of simply “making a living” and “getting through the week” just to “chill out on the weekend.”  We were made for so much more than simply living for ourselves!  Because the One who made you is larger than life, you are to live for something larger than life.  In other words, you are called to live a life that is sold-out for the Savior.

So how are you doing in the area of transcendence?  What have you been living for?  What would those closest to you say about you?  We were made by God and made for God; we were NOT designed to live for something as small as the tiny kingdom of you.  Too many Christians get caught up in the “rat race” of life, never realizing that even if they win the race . . . they’re still a rat!  Transcendent living raises us above the mundane, carries us beyond the meaningless, and delivers us outside of man-centered living.  God has designed you for greatness—not “greatness” as the world defines it, but as God defines it.  Greatness is refusing to live for anything smaller than God.  Greatness is having God both at the center and circumference of your life.  He is your everything, in the most important areas of life as well as in the most mundane.  Do we dare settle for anything less than transcendent living?  May God forbid it! 

The world says, “Live for yourself,” which is actually death.  God says, “Die to yourself” (see Matthew 16:24 and 1 Peter 2:24, for example), which is actually life . . . abundant life . . . a life of transcendence.  A transcendent life is a life shaped by the Savior, grown by grace, and set apart for selfless service of God and others.  This is not the narrow field of “leaving a legacy” that many speak about today.  God created us, not for leaving our personal legacy but to expand His under the lordship of Jesus Christ.  When we understand our lives to be all about Him rather than us, we are freed to live for something bigger than ourselves.  Only transcendent living provides the necessary meaning, significance, and purpose that every human being craves from the cradle to the grave. 

Does transcendence mark your life?  What gets you up early?  What drives you to give it all you have with all you have been given?  Never settle for less than what you have been created for!  I don’t know if God has called you to be a butcher, baker, or candlestick maker.  What I do know is that He has called you to do whatever you are doing for His glory and His glory alone.  God is on a mission of making all things new, and He has called us to be part of this “above and beyond” process.

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

We’re in the midst of a three-part series of self-examination, inspired by Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 11:28—“Let a person examine himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”  On Monday we looked at the motivation of the heart—the why behind what you do.  Today we will look at one of the most important areas in all of life: relationships!

How would you rate yourself in the area of relationships?  Remember that God said that it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18), which means we were created for relationship, beginning with our Creator.  We cannot begin to live in a right relationship with each other until we are in a right relationship with Jesus!  When we are rooted in a relationship with our Redeemer, we are rescued from the tyranny of living for our own good and and our own glory; we are freed to live for the good of others to the glory of God. 

 “Where is Abel your brother?”  the Lord questioned Cain (Genesis 4:9).  “I do not know,” Cain replied sullenly; “am I my brother’s keeper?”  The Scriptures are crystal clear about the answer to Cain’s sinful, self-centered question.  The answer is YES, YES, a thousand times YES! We are our brother’s keeper!  Steve Brown summed it up succinctly: “All those who belong to Jesus belong to all those who belong to Jesus.”  When God saved you, He placed you within His body, called the church, eliminating all barriers of separation erected up by man.  Paul explained to the church at Colossi that “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11). We are all part of the same body and as such, we each need all of us.  The Bible knows nothing of the solitary saint.  The Christian life was never meant to be lived in intentional isolation, with self-protection as the highest goal.   

The Triune God is in a perfect relationship; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, providing the perfect relationship model for all the world to see.  If we are to reflect the character of Christ in a way that glorifies God, it must include the way we relate to others . . . all others.  Make no mistake, God is never more pleased and proclaimed—glad and glorified—than when we love and lay our lives down for others, just as He loved and laid down his life for us.  Our relationships are to shine a light on the transcendent glory and grace of God.  Our relationships should bear witness to a watching world what God is like and what He is here to do: rescue this fallen, broken, sin-filled world and make all things new . . . including relationships.      

My beloved Pastor Tullian said it beautifully in this section in his book, Unfashionable:

Just as bicycle spokes are linked by their common attachment to the hub, so Christians are linked by their common attachment to Christ.  In him, Christians of every tribe, tongue, and nation become brothers and sisters.  Though we’re all distinct, all different, in Christ we’re no longer divided.  We don’t always act unified, but that doesn’t change the fact that in Christ we are one.

Because of the power of the Gospel, we remain distinct, yet we refuse to be divided because serving Jesus is more important than serving the self.

So . . . how are you doing in the area of relationships?  What changes do you need to make?  Only the Gospel in all its glory can reorient the direction of our heart away from the self and toward the Savior.  The more we live in the deep truths of the Gospel, the more we will live a cross-shaped life: worshipping God and serving others.  Laying our lives down for others is the primary sign of the diminishing rule of the sinful heart and the increasing rule of the Savior in our lives.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

This week I will present a three-part series on an often neglected “means of grace” that is designed to return blessings multiplied to those who consistently engage in it.  One of the overarching themes in the Bible is that of self-examination.  “Let a person examine himself . . .” Paul exhorts, “and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:28).

Today we will focus on motivation; this is the “why” behind what you do.  Why serve the Lord with all your heart?  Why go to church?  Why study the Bible?  Why pray without ceasing?  Why go that extra mile?  Why give more than you receive?  Why love God and others more than yourself?  Why forgive when you have been wronged?  Why confess your sin and ask for forgiveness when you have wronged someone else?  Make no mistake, the “why” behind what you do is more important than what you are actually doing!

The Pharisees—for whom our Lord reserved some of His sharpest rebukes—did all the right things . . . but for all the wrong reasons.  Their motivation was rooted in what they believed they would receive in return for what they were doing.  In essence, they were working their way toward God in an attempt to earn His favor and secure His blessings. 

Paul provides the Master’s motivation that should rightly drive all of our attitudes and actions in 2 Corinthians 5:14—“Christ’s love compels us.”  What an all-consuming motivation, the love of Christ!  Paul would not be motivated by guilt.  He knew that guilt would only take him so far and its hold on him would eventually weaken.  Nor would Paul be motivated by fear.  He knew that fear would only take him so far and its hold on him would eventually ease.  For Paul the only “why” for doing anything was the overwhelming love showered upon him by his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  It was the only lasting power to pull him into the perfect plan and purpose God had called him to.

And how did Paul keep this powerful motivator before him?  The Gospel!  Only the good news of the Gospel has the power to transform our lives.   

Jack Miller said, “We need to preach the Gospel to ourselves every day.”  Far too many Christians believe the Gospel is only for sinners who need to be saved.  The Gospel is just as necessary for sinners who need to be sanctified.  In preaching the Gospel to ourselves daily, we are reminded that we are still sinners who need of the love of Christ, who laid down His life for the forgiveness of our sins.  “God demonstrates his own love for us in this” Paul wrote: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  What greater motivation could there be to live the Christian life than to know that Jesus loves us that much?  At this level of living, duty turns into devotion that springs from a heart overflowing with thanksgiving for all that Jesus has done.   

So . . . what is the “why” behind what you do?  I pray that a little self-surgery on your soul today will open your heart to the incredible hope-filled, joy-powered motivation of all that God in Christ has done for you.

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

To be sure, there are many questions in life which ignorance of—or indifference to—the answer matter not at all.  Here are a few examples:

• Why do “fat chance” and “slim chance” mean the same thing?
• Why are there Interstates in Hawaii?
• Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

However, there are questions that we simply cannot afford to misunderstand or ignore!

• “How then can a man be righteous before God?” (Job 25:4, NIV)
• “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  (Luke 18:18)
• “What must I do to be saved?”  (Acts 16:30)

Did you know that everyone asks questions like these?  It’s true!  Everyone is looking for their source of salvation and significance, whether they consciously recognize it or not.  Some look for it in their work; others in relationships; still others in their hobbies.  These things occupy our minds, consume our time, and absorb our resources.  By nature, we hold idolatrous affections for things smaller than God.  These things are often good things—ministry, our children, charitable giving, good health, a clean house—that we have allowed to become ultimate things. 

Looking to any object other than God for happiness and fulfillment is looking for salvation in a “functional savior,” as our Pastor Tullian has so clearly explained.  And make no mistake: everyone is looking to some sort of functional savior(s) until Jesus shows up. 

Take a moment to prayerfully consider what some of your “functional saviors” might be.  Here is a quick self-examination.

I am preoccupied with _________________________.

I would be happy if I could only get _______________.

I would be absolutely shattered if I lost ____________.

When I daydream, my mind goes to _______________.

I get my sense of significance from ________________. 

I get up early for ________________ and stay up late for ________________.

The greatest love in my life is the love I feel for ____________.

Zacchaeus had his money, Peter his fishing, and Paul his religion . . . before Jesus showed up and changed them all from the inside out.  Jesus reoriented their lives with the truth of the Gospel, a truth that would be clearly demonstrated in changed lives that all the world could see.

So . . . what is your answer to this most important question?  Paul and Silas answered it this way: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).  Peter explained, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

You see, functional saviors can never do for us what only Jesus can do.  You have been created by God, for God, and you will never be able to get from created things what only the Creator can give you.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

We all deal with our own personal prisons.  For some it is living with pain from the past.  For others it is dealing with fear of the future.  Perhaps it is neither past nor future that binds us; the present looms with countless prisons that confine.  Materialism can put us behind bars; workaholism becomes a ball and chain (even in ministry); addictions can lock us up.  The great Baptist preacher Charles H. Spurgeon once rightly remarked, “Many are the prisons of affliction in which the Lord’s servants are shut up.”

So what personal prisons hold you today?  Regardless, I have good news: you are not alone!

 David delivered a most amazing promise from God in Psalm 23:3—“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”  God has promised never to leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  Whatever you are going through right now, you are not going through it alone; God is right there with you.

When Nebudchadnezzar sentenced Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to die in the fiery furnace, the Lord came and walked with the young Hebrew boys in the flames (Daniel 2:25).  When Paul was locked up in prison, “The Lord stood by him” (Acts 23:11).  The same Lord who had walked in the Garden of Eden, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, and died on Golgotha’s Hill now stood beside Paul in prison.  And He has promised to do the same for you, regardless of the prison you are facing.  This should not only be a source of great comfort to you, it should be a source of powerful motivation to rise above your circumstances!

If your prison is of your own making, you can feel very far away from Jesus, even though He is standing right next to you.  The seduction of sin shatters the “shalom,” the sense of peace and wholeness that you experience with your Savior, causing you to feel remote from Him.  Knowing that Jesus stands with you strengthens you to fight against the powers of your personal prisons by appropriating the grace He provides for you to fight—and win—your battles.  When sleep departs and the silence screams, Jesus is still with you!

If your prison is the result of persecution because you have chosen to live for Jesus regardless of the cost or circumstance, Jesus stands alongside you to strengthen and comfort, just as He did for Paul, giving you all the grace you need to finish your race. 

Remember, Jesus stood with Paul when he was faithfully serving Him; He also stood with Peter after he had denied Him three times.  He is always for you, even when you are against Him.  “If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2).

OK, most of us know the Bible says we are to consider pain to be a cause for rejoicing, but, as my friend Steve Brown likes to say . . . can we talk? The man who lost his job two months ago and hasn’t found anything new, the man who has bill collectors calling nonstop and whose wife seems to be more remote by the day . . . he’s supposed to count that as joy?  Such a response might be expected from a super-spiritual saint like Job, but for everyday believers like you and me, would you say that that God seems to be asking a bit much?

When was the last time you thought about your pain in the context of it being pleasing to God?  It’s probably been awhile; pain springing forth out of the fountain of pleasing God is counterintuitive.  It’s certainly more comfortable to believe that pleasing God would result in pleasure for the one who is pleasing God.  Yet when you read the biblical accounts of those who were pleasing God and living dead center in His will, pain was the confession of their lives.

Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his beloved son.  Joseph was sold into slavery by his resentful siblings.  John the Baptist was beheaded by a lecherous tyrant.  Stephen was stoned to death by an angry mob.  All the apostles except John died a martyr’s death, and John died in lonely exile on the Isle of Patmos.  Pleasing God is certainly no guarantee of comfortable passage for those who live as pilgrims passing through a strange and hostile land (see 1 Peter 2:11).  2 Timothy 3:12 presents a sober warning: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”  The promise is pain for all who seek to live a life worthy of their calling.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, God promised that there will be an ongoing battle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, a battle that will continue until God in Christ makes all things new (Revelation 21:1-5).  One lesson we can take from man’s cosmic treason in the Garden is that pain will confront everyone who seeks to be ruler of their own little kingdom.  And God, in His grace, will make sure that pain wins this battle!  When we are seduced by self-sufficiency, the grace of pain propels us back to our Savior.  God uses pain to keep us from living for anything smaller than God.

The grace of pain breaks down the walls of self-rule, self-protection, and self-security, ultimately “bringing you to the end of yourself,” as Steve Brown rightly observed.  We must be careful not to fixate on that moment in the future when our pain will end and miss the good God is doing right in the middle of it.  James concluded his startling exhortation to “count it all joy” by explaining that “the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” And he went on to say that you should “let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:3-4).

Imagine for a moment that all of life was pure pleasure.  On the surface that might sound inviting.  But continual pleasure without the grace of pain would cause us to shrink the size of our lives down to the size of our lives. 

So where in your life has God been sending you the grace of pain?  More importantly, what have you been doing with it?  Chuck Swindoll said years ago, “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”  As pain comes into our lives, we should react to it with joy, because we know that pain is ultimately coming from a loving Father who is working it all together for our good (Romans 8:28).  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

My Adult Sunday School class is working through the book of Acts.  One of the most arresting verses in that inspired chronicle records these words from our Lord: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

I’d like to unpack four remarkable promises.

1. The promise of You – I find it remarkable just how personal our Lord makes these incredible promises; He starts with YOU!  He is not speaking to the church as a whole or some elite group of spiritual saints within the church.  He starts with the personal promise of YOU!     
2. The promise of Power – Jesus assured us that we will receive power from the Holy Spirit.  He did NOT promise that we are capable in our own strength of living the life of sacrifice and service to which God has called us.  To the contrary, Jesus promised us that Omnipotence will take up residence inside us and shape our lives according to His will.
3. The promise of Witness – Jesus said we will be His witnesses.  We will, by the power of the Holy Ghost, be living epistles of the Lord Jesus Christ.  To be sure, Jesus witnessed to the glory of God everywhere He went: from the Holy Temple to the lake of Gennesaret; from walking the streets of Jerusalem to sitting at the well; from preaching on a mountainside to gasping out His last message on the hill Golgotha.  His witness consisted of what he said and what he did.  If we are to truly be His disciples, we are to be like Him as witnesses.
4. The promise of “Glocal” Impact – Jesus said we will have a Gospel ministry that is locally impacting and globally reaching—a “Glocal” impact. 

Standing confidently on these four promises, we are called by God to live beyond the borders of our lives.  Living out these promises keep us from shrinking the size of our lives down to the size of our lives!  Beloved in the Lord, is this the confession of your life?  Does your life provide a clear testimony to the truth of the Gospel? 

Remember, Jesus witnessed in every imaginable kind of circumstance.  He witnessed before the wealthy and the poor.  He witnessed to large crowds at midday and one-on-one late at night.  He witnessed to friends and enemies alike.  And the Book of Acts vividly describes the ever-expanding reach of the Gospel.  It began locally in Jerusalem and spread into Judea and Samaria and ultimately to the ends of the earth.  It would change the lives of both Jews and Gentiles. 

Isn’t it remarkable to realize that the Almighty would enlist such broken, weak, and sinful vessels as you and me into His redemptive service?  But that is exactly what He has done! The work began with Him, but the call goes out to YOU!  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Have you ever gone to your refrigerator, anticipating sinking your teeth into a delicious piece of fruit . . . dreaming of the explosion of great taste and good health in your mouth . . .  only to open the door and find the fruit decayed and decomposing?  Worse yet, have you ever accidentally taken a great big chomp out of a piece of rotten fruit? How incredibly NASTY was that experience?!

God designed each of us to find our satisfaction only in Him.  This world was not created to provide that which only God can give.  Living a life of sold-out service to God is the only way to find true fulfillment and satisfaction.  All too often, however, we seek the things of this world, which AT BEST provide fleeting pleasure.  This may seem to satisfy for a while, just as a fresh piece of chewing gum might taste good for a few moments, but ultimately seeking worldly pleasure will only result in our reaping a harvest of rotten fruit from our self-centered, “little kingdom living.”

Pastor Tullian likes to quote C. S. Lewis, who wrote:

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.

We are too easily satisfied by things smaller than God, living lives dominated by the pursuit of the pleasures of the physical creation.  I am not necessarily speaking about a life marked by scandalous sins—“drink and sex” and the like.  Our rotten fruit can take shape simply by seeking fulfillment beyond the borders of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  In so doing, we engage in a long list of subtle sins of the heart that reap rotten fruit.  We might dig ourselves so deeply into installment debt that we cannot give our tithes and offerings to support the church and the expansion of the Kingdom.  We might eat ourselves into an unhealthy condition and ultimately forfeit the physical vitality to rise from our beds with a passion for pursuing God’s perfect plan and purpose for our lives.  Our thoughtless words can do irreparable damage to relationships; so can a stubborn unwillingness to forgive those who have wronged us.  Oh, what a bitter harvest of rotten fruit we reap when we seek to satisfy ourselves rather than our Savior!

So how do we avoid this miserable outcome?  Look to Jesus!  Good fruit never comes from bad trees (Matthew 7:18).  When we turn our lives in on ourselves we can expect only rotten fruit, because we are, in our hearts, sinful! (See Jeremiah 17:9.)  But when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33), God’s grace reaches deep inside of us and draws us out into a place of unimaginable fulfillment and joy!  A passage in Paul’s epistle to the Galatians sums this up perfectly:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:7-9).

You may remember Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian king who conquered Israel, plundered her wealth, and carried her citizens off into captivity.  But just as Daniel had prophesied, Nebuchadnezzar’s pride led to a catastrophic fall, until he found himself living as an outcast in the wilderness, cropping grass like an ox!  Talk about a nasty harvest of rotten fruit!  But then, at the lowest point of his life, Nebuchadnezzar learned to look elsewhere.  “I . . . raised my eyes toward heaven,” he explained, “and my sanity was restored.  Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever” (Daniel 4:34 NIV).

Nebuchadnezzar learned that focusing on himself and his so-called “accomplishments” was a recipe for abject misery.  But when he lifted his gaze to heaven, meditating on the majesty of the Giver of every good and perfect gift, he found sanity and lasting happiness.  This is the place where our vision is painted by His glory, protected by His love, and perfected by His grace.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!  

What does it mean to be missionally minded?  How does that quality manifest itself in the life of a Christian?  The answer is rooted in these words of Jesus: “I came not to be served, but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

The term “missional” is simply a way of saying that the Christian life is to be shaped by the purposes of God in this world.  “Missions” is not a compartmentalized aspect of church life that we “add on” or “fit in” to our lives.  And it most certainly is not a specialized “field of service” or “gifting” for a special group of super-spiritual saints.  Our plans, passions, and pursuits are to be guided, governed, and directed by the Divine agenda.  We are called to engage this world “incarnationally,” which simply means that we are to follow the model given us in the person of Jesus Christ.  To borrow one of my favorite phrases from my friend and pastor, Tullian Tchividjian, we are to be unfashionable! 

Tullian has written, “Because we are citizens of a different kingdom ruled by a different King, Christians will be different people.  We’re the people of the future, formed by the past, and living in the present.  This should be all the evidence we need to be convinced that being unfashionable—living against the world for the world—is not simply what we’re to do; it’s who we are.”  A missional mindset is committed to dying to self and living for others.  It is putting self-focus and self-promotion to death. 

To be missionally minded is to be community centered, both in the church and in the surrounding culture.  The Bible knows nothing of the solitary saint.  When Jesus saves an individual, He places that person into His body (the church) and sends him out into his neighborhood and his world (the culture).  This often requires that we be countercultural (“unfashionable”), so as not to dilute our message and compromise our mission.  We are to be a peculiar people, consecrated by Christ to be an alternative community for the world to see and share in—to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

This simply cannot be done while huddling behind high protective walls or preening atop sparkling ivory towers.  Our Savior’s lifestyle made this perfectly clear.  You’ll remember that the Pharisees were outraged that our Lord reclined and ate with tax collectors and sinners—the despised people of that society.  Who is it in your community that needs an introduction to such an outgoing and inclusive Savior?

Make no mistake, there is much we are to be opposed to in this world; we are to stand in the name of Christ against evil, regardless of cost or circumstance.  Yet when I say we are to live in a countercultural way, I am not only speaking about what we are to oppose but what we are to expose to the watching world.

John’s Gospel introduces the living Word by saying, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18).  The world has never seen God; Jesus made the ways and will of the sovereign Lord of the universe known to man.  In the very same way, we Christians must let the world around us see what we are for (Christlike thinking and conduct, marriages that model Christ’s betrothal to the church, outreach to the needy), just as much as it sees what we are against (abortion, euthanasia, homosexual marriage, etc.).

So, how missionally minded have you been lately?  God is on a mission to make all things new (Revelation 21:5), and He has called every Christian man, woman, and child to co-labor with Him to that end.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!

The Devil has many snares designed to trip up even the most committed Christian.  From a critical spirit to the mindset of “good enough,” Satan is busily engaged in distracting, disabling, even destroying the witness of many who walk with Jesus.  One of Satan’s most insidious traps is the impotent phrase, “IF ONLY . . . !”  Over the years in ministry I have counseled far too many men and women who don’t know what they want out of life, but they are certain it is something different from what they are currently experiencing.  They say things like:

“If only I could get a better job (or my old job back) . . . a bigger house . . . a nicer car . . . then I would be happy!”

“If only I could go back to school and get that degree . . . I’d be a success!”

“If only I could find the right (that’s code for “perfect”) person to marry . . . then I could settle down!”

“If only I could take back the words I said in anger . . . then everything would be alright!”

“If only I could lose this extra weight . . . then I would be accepted and approved of!”

At the deepest level, every “If only” is an indictment against God.  We are confessing that we are dissatisfied with the portion God has graciously given to us!  We simply have not learned the secret of contentment (which we explored in Wednesday’s blog).

Christian, you have been made for increase, and the Bible testifies to that from Genesis to Revelation.  There are two keys to understanding the law of increase:

1. Increase in the areas that are most important to God.
2. Be satisfied with what you have while in pursuit of what God wants for you.

What aspect of your life have you been looking back on with pain, guilt, or regret?  It is important to look back to the past and learn from it, but not to live in it!  Treat the past like a schoolmaster and grow from all of your life experiences.

Take a moment to prayerfully consider and answer the following statement: “IF ONLY I . . . !”  If it is anything less than growing up into Christ, you are shrinking the size of your life down to the size of your life.  Jesus saved you for a great deal more than that!

Remember, satisfaction and significance can only be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Nothing on this side of the grave was ever intended to do for you what only Christ can do.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!