I was reading Tullian Tchividjian's blog this morning and he just briefly mentioned that our lives must be fueled by the gospel. That sure was something I needed today. It's not a new thought. I know that. I'm sure you know that too, but I needed that reminder. I think I'm beginning to understand how much I really want to prove myself worthy. I want to show that I'm capable of living this life that God has called me to live. And day in and out, I mess up in some way. I fall short. Yet, I live in this fog of self-righteousness that keeps me blind to it. I'm beginning to believe that the times I mess up are the times that I'm most sure of my self-righteousness. It's like God is lifting the veil to let me see myself as I truly am and telling me to wake up and live out of the Gospel. Live out the fact that I am indeed a dreadful sinner, deserving of God's wrath. But in grace, Jesus was sent by the Father to bear that wrath and bring about reconciliation. I need to look upon Jesus every single day and cry out for the grace of that day. Like the manna that fell from heaven that was only good for that day, so is the grace that comes from God. I need to be at the feet of His throne each morning, begging for grace for the moment. Some days, I probably need to go back two or three times. And the point can't be just the grace. It's the relationship that the grace flows through. If I find myself lacking in grace to get through my day without getting impatient, or self-control, it's because the connection to the Giver of that grace is not what it should be. Which again, brings me back to the Gospel. When I had no connection to the Giver of grace, He made a connection. He bestows it upon me and beckons me to return to Him.
What a Great and Glorious God we serve! To Him be all glory and power and honor! For Jesus, the Christ, has come. He has absorbed the wrath of God. He has become the channel of grace. Fear of death and destruction are gone. Only freedom and sonship and inheritance remain. Today is a great day.
I hope you were encouraged. His mercies are new every morning. Let me end with words of the great hymn writer John Newton: "...I remember two things; I am a great sinner and Christ is a great saviour." Amen and Amen.
~sdg













