Preaching the gospel
Today, a really strange thing happened...I preached the gospel to myself.
"To yourself?" you're wondering? Yes, that's right. I preached the gospel to myself.
I've been so caught up in how others need the gospel that I've forgotten about myself. Jesus doesn't stop working on me and it's not like I have the gospel all figured out. I need the gospel every day just as much as anyone else does on this planet. How boastful of me to think that I know the plan and now I'm here to disseminate this plan to all others who don't know it. Foolishness!
Sure, we have the Four Laws tract that we share with folks that is a great way to get them started in their relationship with God, but in many ways, that's just a starting point. I actually think conversion happens over and over again in our lives and can be looked at like a lifelong process rather than a one time deal.
Now I know you're thinking that is poor theology and sounds more like a description for sanctification, but I think you get what I mean. Christ is never done with us! And we need to believe in the gospel every single day and never forget the life that Jesus Christ has to offer us. And we should also never think at any point in our lives that we have somehow "arrived" and have really "gotten" the gospel after living the Christian life for a while.
I read through Romans 5 through 8 today, which was like reading it for the first time again. I've forgotten so much about God's grace and how it abounds more than sin. And not only that, but we've been called now to no longer be slaves to sin, but to be slaves to righteousness. For we are slaves to the one whom we obey. If we are giving in to our flesh, that is our master. If we are giving in to the Spirit, He is our master. We are living what we choose to obey...I choose the flesh.
I choose the flesh so often! I have not died with Christ! Chris needs to die!!! I cannot live this Christian life alone and expect that my striving and doing better and getting it right the next time will help me achieve the standards of holy uprightness before God! The only way that I can live the Christian life is to be dead. Dead to the flesh, dead to its passions and desires-I need to die.
This is the gospel. This is the gospel...the gospel I so desperately need to hear day in and day out. And you know what? What a relief! The weight isn't on me anymore! It's on Christ! I have just simply let Him live through me! But MAN. Do you know how hard that is?! If you're a Christian, I'm sure you do...
Letting go of yourself, your rights, your pride, your self-protection, your addictions, your habits, your coping mechanisms, your anger, your blaming others, your selfishness, your wants, is all REALLY hard.
The gospel is death and life. It is dying to my own sin, my own flesh and all its passions and desires, crucifying them on the cross, and being alive in Christ Jesus, becoming a slave to righteousness. For HE is whom we should serve. And if we are slaves to righteousness, then truly our Heavenly Father is the one whom we obey. If we give life to the Spirit and His desires, that's who will live in us. If we give way to the flesh and how we want to live, we give birth to death and that is the only fruit we will produce in our lives.
May we be dead to sin and alive in Christ. For each of us individually, we must make that choice and walk that walk. You don't force it upon us. You give us free choice. But your offer of life the way it was meant to be lived is always there for us. You give it to us with open arms. But I'm scared, God...so often I'm scared. It's scary to let go of the life we once lived to embrace new life in Christ. But I'm ready, God. I want to...I want to stop eating the mudpies of life and take your offer of a holiday by the sea. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.
"To yourself?" you're wondering? Yes, that's right. I preached the gospel to myself.
I've been so caught up in how others need the gospel that I've forgotten about myself. Jesus doesn't stop working on me and it's not like I have the gospel all figured out. I need the gospel every day just as much as anyone else does on this planet. How boastful of me to think that I know the plan and now I'm here to disseminate this plan to all others who don't know it. Foolishness!
Sure, we have the Four Laws tract that we share with folks that is a great way to get them started in their relationship with God, but in many ways, that's just a starting point. I actually think conversion happens over and over again in our lives and can be looked at like a lifelong process rather than a one time deal.
Now I know you're thinking that is poor theology and sounds more like a description for sanctification, but I think you get what I mean. Christ is never done with us! And we need to believe in the gospel every single day and never forget the life that Jesus Christ has to offer us. And we should also never think at any point in our lives that we have somehow "arrived" and have really "gotten" the gospel after living the Christian life for a while.
I read through Romans 5 through 8 today, which was like reading it for the first time again. I've forgotten so much about God's grace and how it abounds more than sin. And not only that, but we've been called now to no longer be slaves to sin, but to be slaves to righteousness. For we are slaves to the one whom we obey. If we are giving in to our flesh, that is our master. If we are giving in to the Spirit, He is our master. We are living what we choose to obey...I choose the flesh.
I choose the flesh so often! I have not died with Christ! Chris needs to die!!! I cannot live this Christian life alone and expect that my striving and doing better and getting it right the next time will help me achieve the standards of holy uprightness before God! The only way that I can live the Christian life is to be dead. Dead to the flesh, dead to its passions and desires-I need to die.
This is the gospel. This is the gospel...the gospel I so desperately need to hear day in and day out. And you know what? What a relief! The weight isn't on me anymore! It's on Christ! I have just simply let Him live through me! But MAN. Do you know how hard that is?! If you're a Christian, I'm sure you do...
Letting go of yourself, your rights, your pride, your self-protection, your addictions, your habits, your coping mechanisms, your anger, your blaming others, your selfishness, your wants, is all REALLY hard.
The gospel is death and life. It is dying to my own sin, my own flesh and all its passions and desires, crucifying them on the cross, and being alive in Christ Jesus, becoming a slave to righteousness. For HE is whom we should serve. And if we are slaves to righteousness, then truly our Heavenly Father is the one whom we obey. If we give life to the Spirit and His desires, that's who will live in us. If we give way to the flesh and how we want to live, we give birth to death and that is the only fruit we will produce in our lives.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. -Romans 6:12-14
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. -Galatians 2:20Holy Father, you know my nonsensical strivings to try constantly try to be holier from each day to the next. You know how futile it is. Your purpose for my life has never been to try to "get better" in that sense. It's to set me free and to know that your truth sets me free. It sets me free from sin, my flesh, and living life in a sub-par way. You came to give life and so that we would have life abundantly. We cannot receive that life if we continue holding onto our own. Help us today to lay down our lives, pick up our cross and follow You. Death to ourselves doesn't require much more than simply making the choice at each moment, at each hour of the day, to do things your way.
May we be dead to sin and alive in Christ. For each of us individually, we must make that choice and walk that walk. You don't force it upon us. You give us free choice. But your offer of life the way it was meant to be lived is always there for us. You give it to us with open arms. But I'm scared, God...so often I'm scared. It's scary to let go of the life we once lived to embrace new life in Christ. But I'm ready, God. I want to...I want to stop eating the mudpies of life and take your offer of a holiday by the sea. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.
This entry was posted by Christopher Wu, on
Sunday, September 03, 2006.
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