Today’s Scripture: 2 Peter 3:18

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ”

As we consider various means by which Christians grow, think of each one of them as a book you’re putting on the shelf of your life. In order to keep those books in place, you need two bookends.

The first bookend we need is the righteousness of Christ. The most important question any person can ask is: how can I, a sinful person, be accepted by an infinitely holy and righteous God? Paul told us that it’s by trusting in the righteousness of Christ. Paul counted all his impressive religious credentials as rubbish in order that he might “gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ —the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Philippians 3:8-9, NIV). Paul found his acceptance with God not in his own imperfect obedience, as impressive as it was, but by trusting in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, which God credits to all who trust in him as savior. This is what faith is —trusting in Jesus Christ alone as one’s savior.

The second bookend we must set in place is the power of Christ. Just as our acceptance with God must come through the righteousness of Christ, so our power to live the Christian life must come from Christ as well. As Jesus indicated in John 15:5, we have no ability within ourselves to grow. All of the ability must come from him.

The common element in these two bookends is the word dependence. We’re dependent upon the righteousness of Christ for our acceptance with God, and upon the power of Christ for our ability to pursue spiritual growth.

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Today’s Scripture: Ephesians 5:10

“Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”

The good news of the Gospel is that God’s grace is available on our worst days. That’s true because Christ fully satisfied the claims of God’s justice and fully paid the penalty of a broken law when he died on the cross in our place. Because of that, Paul could write, “He forgave us all our sins” (Colossians 2:13, NIV).

Does this mean God no longer cares whether we obey or disobey? Not at all. The Scripture speaks of our grieving the Holy Spirit through our sins (Ephesians 4:30). And Paul prayed that we “may please [God] in every way” (Colossians 1:10, NIV). Clearly, he cares about our conduct and will discipline us when we refuse to repent of conscious sin. But God is no longer our Judge. Through Christ he is now our heavenly Father who disciplines us only out of love and only for our good.

If God’s blessings were dependent on our performance, they would be meager indeed. Even our best works are shot through with sin—with varying degrees of impure motives and lots of imperfect performance. We’re always, to some degree, looking out for ourselves, guarding our flanks, protecting our egos. It’s because we don’t realize the utter depravity of the principle of sin remaining in us and staining everything we do that we entertain any notion of earning God’s blessings through our obedience. And because we don’t fully grasp that Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins, we despair of God’s blessing when we’ve failed to live up to even our own desires to please God.

Your worst days are never so bad that you’re beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you’re beyond the need of God’s grace.

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Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 12:2

“Jesus . . . endured the cross, despising the shame.”

At the time of Christ’s death, the cross was an instrument of incredible horror and shame. It was a most wretched and degrading punishment, inflicted only on slaves and the lowliest of people. If free men were at any time subjected to crucifixion for great crimes such as treason or insurrection, the sentence could not be executed until they were put in the category of slaves by degradation and their freedom taken away by flogging.

How could it be that the eternal Son of God—by whom all things were created and for whom all things were created (Colossians 1:15-16)—would end up in his human nature dying one of the most cruel and humiliating deaths ever devised by man?

We know that Jesus’ death on the cross did not take him by surprise. He continually predicted it to his disciples. (See Luke 18:31-33 for one example.) And with his impending crucifixion before him, Jesus himself said, “What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour” (John 12:27, NIV). Jesus said he came to die.

But why? Why did Jesus come to die? The apostles Paul and Peter gave us the answer in clear, concise terms. Paul wrote, “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,” and Peter wrote, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 3:18, NIV).

Christ died for our sins. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, took upon himself a human nature and died a horrible death on our behalf. That is the reason for the cross. He suffered what we should have suffered. He died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. (Excerpt taken from The Gospel for Real Life)

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Today’s Scripture: John 14:13

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do.”

I struggle with legalistic tendencies even though I know better. Several years ago I was scheduled to speak at a large church on the West Coast. Arriving about fifteen minutes before the Sunday morning service, I learned that one of the pastoral staff had died suddenly the day before. The staff and congregation were in a state of shock and grief.

Sizing up the situation, I realized the “challenge to discipleship” message I’d prepared was inappropriate. The congregation that day needed comfort and encouragement, not challenge. Knowing I needed a new message, I silently began to pray, asking God to bring to my mind something suitable for the occasion. Then I began to add up my merits and demerits for the day: had I had a quiet time that morning? Had I entertained any lustful thoughts or told any half-truths? I’d fallen into the performance trap.

I quickly recognized what I was doing. “Lord,” I said, “I don’t know the answer to those questions, but it doesn’t matter. I come to you today in the name of Jesus and, by his merit alone, ask for your help.” A verse of Scripture came to my mind and with it a brief outline for an appropriate message. I went to the pulpit and literally prepared the message as I spoke. God did answer prayer.

Why did God answer? Was it because I had a quiet time that morning or fulfilled other spiritual disciplines or hadn’t entertained any sinful thoughts that day? No, God answered my prayer for only one reason: Jesus Christ had already purchased that answer to prayer two thousand years ago on a roman cross. God answered on the basis of his grace alone, not because of my merits or demerits.

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Today’s Scripture: Matthew 18:25

“And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.”

We can’t begin to appreciate the good news of the Gospel until we see our deep need. Most people, even believers, have never given much thought to how desperate our condition is outside of Christ. Few ever think about the dreadful implications of being under the wrath of God. And none of us even begins to realize how truly sinful we are.

Jesus once told a story (Matthew 18:21-35) about a king’s servant who owed his master ten thousand talents. (Just one talent was equal to about twenty years’ wages for a working man.) Why would Jesus use such an unrealistically large amount when he knew that in real life it would have been impossible for any servant to accumulate such a debt?

Jesus was fond of using hyperbole to make his point. That immense sum represents a spiritual debt every one of us owes to God. It’s the debt of our sins. For each of us, it’s a staggering amount.

This is what the Gospel is all about. Jesus paid our debt to the full. And he did far more. He also purchased for us an eternal inheritance of infinite worth. That’s why Paul wrote of the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). And God wants us to enjoy those unsearchable riches in the here and now, even in the midst of difficult and discouraging circumstances.

Without some heartfelt conviction of our sin, we can have no serious feeling of personal interest in the Gospel. What’s more, this conviction should actually grow throughout our Christian lives. In fact, one sign of spiritual growth is an increased awareness of our sinfulness.

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Today’s Scripture: Galatians 3:3

“Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

One of the best kept secrets among Christians today is this: Jesus paid it all. I mean all. He not only purchased your forgiveness of sins and your ticket to heaven, He purchased every blessing and every answer to prayer you will ever receive. Every one of them—no exceptions.

Why is this such a well-kept secret? The core issue is that we don’t believe we’re still spiritually “bankrupt.” Having come into God’s kingdom by grace alone solely on the merit of another, we’re now trying to pay our own way by our performance. We declared only temporary bankruptcy; we’re now trying to live by good works rather than by grace.

After we become Christians, we begin to put away our more obvious sins. We also start attending church, put money in the offering plate, and maybe join a small group Bible study. We see some positive change in our lifestyle, and we begin to feel pretty good about ourselves. We’re now ready to emerge from bankruptcy and pay our own way in the Christian life.

Then the day comes when we fall on our face spiritually. We lapse back into an old sin or fail to do what we should have done. And we assume we’ve forfeited all blessings from God for some undetermined period of time. Our expectation of God’s blessing depends on how well we feel we’re living the Christian life. We think we can and must “pay our own way” with God.

Try this test: Think of a time recently when you really fell on your face spiritually. Then imagine that immediately afterward you encountered a terrific opportunity to share Christ with a non-Christian friend. Could you have done it with complete confidence in God’s help? (Excerpt taken from Transforming Grace)

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Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 9:14

“How much more will the blood of Christ . . . purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

What should we do when we’ve had a “bad” day spiritually, when it seems we’ve done everything wrong and are feeling very guilty? We must go back to the cross and see Jesus there bearing our sins in his own body (1 Peter 2:24). We must by faith appropriate for ourselves the blood of Christ that will cleanse our guilty consciences (Hebrews 9:14).

In a bad-day scenario, we might pray something like this: “Father, I’ve sinned against you. I’ve been negligent in the spiritual disciplines that I know are necessary and helpful for my spiritual growth. I’ve been irritable and impatient toward those around me. I’ve allowed resentful and unkind thoughts to lodge in my mind. I repent of these sins and claim your forgiveness..

You have said you justify the wicked (Romans 4:5). Father, in view of my sins today, I acknowledge that in myself I am wicked. In fact, my problem is not merely the sins I’ve committed, some of which I may not even be aware of, but the fact that my heart is sinful. These sins I’m now so painfully conscious of are merely expressions of my sinful heart. But despite my sinfulness, you have said, ‘there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). Given my acute awareness of my sin, that’s an incredible statement. How can I be without condemnation when I’ve so flagrantly and willfully sinned against you today?

O Father, I know it’s because Jesus bore those sins in his body on the cross. He suffered the punishment I deserve, so I might experience the blessings he deserved. So I come to you, dear Father, in Jesus’ name.” (Excerpt taken from The Discipline of Grace)

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Today’s Scripture: Psalm 42:1

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”

In the life of the godly person, this desire for God produces an aura of warmth. Godliness is never austere and cold. Such an idea comes from a false sense of legalistic morality erroneously called godliness. The person who spends time with God radiates his glory in a manner that is always warm and inviting, never cold and forbidding.

This longing for God also produces a desire to glorify God and to please him. In the same breath, Paul expressed the desire to know Christ as well as to be like him (Philippians 3:10). This is God’s ultimate objective for us and is the object of the Spirit’s work in us. In Isaiah 26:9, the prophet proclaimed his desire for the Lord: “My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.” Immediately before this expression of desire for the Lord, he expresses a desire for his glory: “your name and renown are the desire of our hearts” (verse 8, NIV). Renown has to do with one’s reputation, fame, and eminence—or in God’s case, with his glory. The prophet could not separate in his heart his desire for God’s glory and his desire for God himself. These two yearnings go hand in hand.

This is devotion to God—the fear of God, which is an attitude of reverence and awe, veneration, and honor toward him, coupled with an apprehension deep within our souls of the love of God for us, demonstrated preeminently in Christ’s atoning death. These two attitudes complement and reinforce each other, producing within our souls an intense desire for this one who is so awesome in his glory and majesty, yet so condescending in his love and mercy.

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Today’s Scripture: Ephesians 2:1,4-5

“You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. But God . . . made us alive together with Christ.”

The word Gospel essentially means “good news,” specifically about our relationship with God. We all like good news, especially if it addresses bad news we’ve just received. If you’ve just been told you have cancer, it’s good news when the doctor tells you it’s a type that readily responds to treatment.

The Gospel is like that. It’s good news that directly addresses our ultimate bad news. The Bible tells us we were in deep trouble with God; we were unrighteous and ungodly, and God’s wrath is revealed “against all the godlessness and wickedness of men”; in fact, we were “by nature objects of [God’s] wrath” (Romans 1:18, NIV; Ephesians 2:3, NIV). Coming into the world as a baby, before you’d ever done anything bad, you were an object of God’s wrath. That’s the bad news. .

Then the Bible tells us that God has provided a solution far surpassing our problem. The good news always outweighs the bad—as in Ephesians 2:1-9. After telling us we were objects of God’s wrath, Paul added: “But . . . God, who is rich in mercy . . . raised us up with Christ, and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (NIV). That is surely a dust-to-glory story. What greater contrast could there be than an object of God’s wrath seated with his Son in glory?

This good news doesn’t begin when we die. It’s for now. We don’t have to feel guilt-ridden and insecure before God. We don’t have to wonder if He likes us. We can begin each day with the deeply encouraging realization, I’m accepted by God, not on the basis of my personal performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. (Excerpt taken from The Gospel for Real Life)

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Today’s Scripture: Romans 3:12

“No one does good, not even one.”

Bankrupt! The word has a dreadful ring to it. Even in our lax and permissive society, being bankrupt still conveys some degree of disgrace and shame.

In the moral realm, the word bankrupt has an even more disparaging connotation. To say a person is morally bankrupt is to say he or she is completely devoid of any decent moral qualities. It’s like comparing that person to Adolf Hitler.

You may never have thought of it this way, but you are bankrupt. You and I and every person in the world are spiritually bankrupt. Except for Jesus Christ, every person who has ever lived has been spiritually bankrupt. In Romans 3:10-12, Paul declared our spiritual bankruptcy in its most absolute state. We were spiritually destitute, owing God a debt we couldn’t pay. Then we learned salvation is a gift from God, entirely by grace through faith (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). We renounced confidence in any supposed righteousness of our own and turned in faith to Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. In that act, we essentially declared spiritual bankruptcy.

But what kind of bankruptcy did we declare? In the business world, financially troubled companies can declare bankruptcy according to “chapter 7″—if it has no future as a viable business—or “chapter 11,” for companies that, given time, can work through their financial problems.

So what kind of bankruptcy did we declare—permanent or temporary? I think most of us actually declared temporary bankruptcy. Having trusted in Christ alone for our salvation, we have subtly and unconsciously reverted to a works relationship with God in our Christian lives. We recognize that even our best efforts cannot get us to heaven, but we do think they earn God’s blessings in our daily lives. )

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Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 12:14

“Strive for . . . the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

The Holy Spirit’s work in transforming us more and more into the likeness of Christ is called sanctification. Our involvement and cooperation with him in his work is what I call the pursuit of holiness. That expression is taken from Hebrews 12:14: “strive for [literally: pursue] . . . the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” .

This pursuit requires sustained, vigorous effort. It allows for no indolence, no lethargy, no halfhearted commitment, and no laissez-faire attitude toward even the smallest sins. In short, it demands the highest priority in a Christian’s life because to be holy is to be like Christ—God’s goal for every Christian.

The word “pursue” in this context means to strive to gain or accomplish. In Philippians 3:12-14, this word is translated “press on.” In the New Testament it is most commonly translated “persecute,” carrying the word’s common meaning—to track down in order to harm or destroy.

At the same time, however, the pursuit of holiness must be anchored in the grace of God; otherwise it is doomed to failure. That statement probably strikes many people as strange. A lot of Christians seem to think the grace of God and the vigorous pursuit of holiness are antithetical—in direct and unequivocal opposition.

To some, the pursuit of holiness sounds like legalism and man-made rules. To others, an emphasis on grace seems to open the door to irresponsible behavior based on the notion that God’s unconditional love means we’re free to sin as we please.

Grace and the personal discipline required to pursue holiness, however, go hand in hand. An understanding of how grace and personal, vigorous effort work together is essential for a lifelong pursuit of holiness. (Excerpt taken from The Discipline of Grace)

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Today’s Scripture: Ephesians 3:8

“To me . . . this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

Years ago our pastor told about a southern plantation owner who left a $50,000 inheritance (perhaps equivalent to half a million dollars today) to a former slave who’d served him faithfully all his life. The estate’s lawyer duly notified the old man and told him the money was deposited at a local bank.

Weeks went by, and the former slave never called for any of his inheritance. Finally, the banker called him in and told him again he had $50,000 available to draw on at any time. “Sir,” the old man replied, “do you think I can have fifty cents to buy a sack of cornmeal?&quot.

That story illustrates the plight of many Christians today. Paul wrote of preaching “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8) —referring not to financial wealth but to the glorious truths of the gospel. It’s as if each of us has $50,000 available in the gospel, yet most of us are hoping we can squeeze out fifty cents’ worth. We don’t understand the riches of the Gospel any more than the former slave understood his inheritance.

Suppose also that the slave was not only poverty-stricken but also deep in debt for back rent. With his inheritance, he could not only pay off the debt but also buy his house. His inheritance far surpasses his debt. This is the truth of the Gospel. We owe an enormous spiritual debt to God; there’s no way we can repay it. The gospel tells us Jesus Christ paid our debt, but it also tells us far more: We’re no longer enemies and objects of God’s wrath. We’re now his sons and daughters, heirs with Christ to all his unsearchable riches. This is the good news of the Gospel.

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Today’s Scripture: Philippians 3:10

“That I may know him and the power of his resurrection.”

As we concentrate on growing in our reverence and awe for God and in our understanding of his love for us, we will find that our desire for him will grow. As we gaze upon his beauty, we’ll desire to seek him even more. And as we become progressively more aware of his redeeming love, we’ll want to know him in a progressively deeper way. But we can also pray that God will deepen our desire for him. I recall reading Philippians 3:10 a number of years ago and realizing a little bit of the depth of Paul’s desire to know Christ more intimately. As I read I prayed, “O God, I cannot identify with Paul’s longing, but I would like to.” Over the years God has begun to answer that prayer. By his grace I know experientially to some degree Isaiah’s words, “My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you” (Isaiah 26:9, NIV). I’m grateful for what God has done, but I pray I will continue to grow in this desire for him.

In his book Desiring God, John Piper wrote, “[God] loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can be found only in knowing and praising him, the most magnificent of all Beings.” One of the wonderful things about God is that he’s infinite in all his glorious attributes, so never in our desire for him will we exhaust the revelation of his person to us. The more we come to know him, the more we’ll desire him. And the more we desire him, the more we’ll want to fellowship with him and experience his presence. And the more we desire him and his fellowship, the more we’ll desire to be like him. (Excerpt taken from The Fruitful Life)

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Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:9

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

Learning to live by grace instead of by performance helps us accept the discipline of adversity. We realize that God is not disciplining us because of our bad performance but because of his love for us. We also learn to accept that whatever our situation, it’s far better than we deserve. So we learn not to ask, “Why did this happen to me?” (Meaning, What did I do to deserve such bad treatment from God?). We also learn, as Paul did with his thorn in the flesh, that God’s grace is sufficient for us, however difficult and frustrating our circumstances might be. God’s enabling grace will give us the inner spiritual strength we need to bear the pain and endure the hardship until the time when we see the harvest of righteousness and peace produced by it.

Far from being opposed to each other, grace and discipline—both God’s discipline of us and our discipline of ourselves—are inextricably united together in God’s program of sanctification. There’s no question that God bases his discipline on grace. We are the ones who have problems with the relationship of grace and discipline, and who need to work at cultivating a proper relationship.

That work includes learning to preach the Gospel to ourselves every day. We base the “duty” of discipleship on the Gospel, resulting in the practice of a Christ-based acceptance with God and a spirit-energized approach to the pursuit of holiness. In the joy and strength of knowing our sins are forgiven and sin’s dominion is broken, we press on to become holy as he is holy. The so-called duty of discipleship then becomes a joy and a delight even though it requires vigorous effort.

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Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:7

“See that you excel in this act of grace also.”

Some Christians think they cannot afford giving 10 percent of their income to God’s work. I understand. When I left industry to become a staff trainee with The Navigators years ago, I took a 75 percent salary cut. I was financially shell-shocked. So I thought, “I can’t afford to tithe. Surely, God accepts my sacrificial service as my giving.” But God didn’t let me get away with that. So I decided I would tithe my meager income and trust God to provide.

Later I was drawn to the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16). She was down to her last bit of flour and oil. She planned to prepare her last meal for her son and herself, and then die. Yet Elijah said to her in effect, “Feed me first, for God will provide for you.” She did as Elijah instructed, and God did provide: “The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah” (verse 16). I began to pray over that verse, and I can tell you that throughout more than fifty years of ministry, God has always provided.

Giving back to God at least 10 percent of what he has given us is a tangible expression of our recognition that everything we have and our ability to earn comes from God (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).

Remember the infinite generosity of our Lord in giving himself for our salvation: “Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Our giving should reflect the value we place on his gift to us. (Excerpt taken from Respectable Sins)

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