Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life

And we neglect the glorious gospel when we fail to recognize his preeminence. How frequently we forget that everything is for him and about him. We forget that he is to be first, in our honor and in our worship. Whenever the gospel slips from our conscious thought, our religion becomes all about our performance, and then we think everything that happens or will ever happen isa bout us. When I forget the incarnation, sinless life, death, resurrection, and ascension, I quickly believe that I'm supposed to be the unrivaled supreme, and matchless one. It's at this point that I'm particularly in need of an intravenous dose of gospel truth. He is preeminent.

The gospel frees us from demanding our own way, because nothing we desire to obtain is worth sinning against such love and kindness.

God loves us so much that he crushed his Son so that we might be his and that this love isn't based on our worthiness or performance. His love doesn't fluctuate from day-to-day. It was settled the moment he set it upon you before the foundation of the world.

When we fail to respond in Christlikeness to the disappointments of life, it's usually because we've forgotten all he has accomplished for us.

Real progress in the Christian life is not gauged by our knowledge of scripture, our church attendance, time in prayer, or even our witnessing (although it isn't less than these things) Maturity in the Christian life is measured by only one test: how much closer to his character have we become? the result of the Spirit's work is more not more activity. No, the results of his work are in in our quality of life, they are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Faith, then, is simply a believing that there is a God who loves us, in spite of the poison of sin coursing through our soul.

We're women and men who are so sinful and flawed that we deserve hell, but we've been so loved and welcomed that every spiritual blessing, adoption, tender fellowship with our Father and each other, forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life is ours. Christ's accomplishments and perfections are ours now. Everything about us is different.

When I neglect the gospel, I'll want nice vacations and nice compliments and nice things to make my life nicer. I'll long to be able to compare myself favorably with others and to know that I am successful. I'll look down on those who don't meet my standards, and I'll idolize those who excel. I'll forget that he is preeminent.

Our problem is not that we desire happiness. No, our problem is that we continue to foolishly believe that we can attain it apart from him. We think that if we just try hard enough, the next time we'll get it right (whatever it is) and we'll be happy. Instead of pushing through to the true source of all joy and happiness, we sinfully believe the false promises of lesser gods.

Do you need hope? Look at the tiny baby in a cow trough. See the adult's gentle hands blessing the children. Hear his words of invitation and see those hands pierced with spikes. Contemplate the blood-soaked mud. View the empty tomb and the folded grave clothes. See him rise physically to return to his Father, clothed in human flesh. Anticipate his return on the clouds and your eternal union and reign with him. Don't turn away from the hope of the gospel: Christ is utterly and eternally preeminent. You need this hope to face your day; don't look away to yourself or any other person.

Our faith works because we love, and we love because he has first loved us. Our faith is then emboldened by this responsive love; we've been loved, we've been assured of our justification; our Father speaks of our sanctification as if it had already occurred. By faith, then, we can courageously pursue growth into our true identity.

Our obedience has its origin in God's prior action, and forgetting that truth results in self-righteousness, pride, and despair.

We forget the gospel when we neglect our adoption and think that we're still just a hired servant. The Father doesn't let us come to him on those terms. We will either come as sons or we will stay with the pigs. He won't let us earn anything from him because there will be no boasting in his sight. It will either be that Jesus and his glorious gospel has the preeminence or we will go it on our own.

You're not just one in millions, a face lost in the crowd. In the heart of God you're unique, a distinct person with a particular name, chosen from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

for it is only an appreciation of his love that can motivate genuine obedience.

True Christianity is not a program of self-improvement; it's an acknowledgment that something more than self-improvement is needed.

When I forget that the only way that God could stand to have me in his family was by crushing the Son he loves-that without the perfect record of someone else I could not stand before his judicious holiness, that on my own I do not have within me either the desire or the power to please God-I am tempted to believe that I'm really pretty good. And although I might need a nip or tuck, if I try hard enough, I can accomplish all he has called me to. It's when we forget the gospel, when we think we're not really all that bad, not so much in need, not so far from Christlikeness, that pride, arrogance, and the inevitable guilt crush hope and faith.

Because God has accredited or imputed Jesus' perfect obedience to you, when God looks upon you, he sees you as a person who - always does the things that are pleasing to him; - is so focused on accomplishing his will and work that doing so is your daily food; - doesn't seek your own will but seeks his will instead; - doesn't seek to receive glory (praise, respect, worship) from others; - has always kept all his commandments; - lives in such a way that your life brings holiness to others; - loves others and lays down your life on a consistent basis; - lives in such a way that the people around you know that you love your heavenly Father more than anything else; - seeks to obey every command so that righteousness will

The declarations of the gospel are unavoidably tied to the obligations of the Gospel.

It's essential for us to think about God's love today because it is only his love that can grant us the joy that will strengthen our hearts, the courage that will embolden us in our fight against sin, and the assurance that will enable us to open up our lives to him so that he might deal powerfully with our unbelief and idolatry.

We need the encouragement, correction, and loving involvement of others who are willing to risk everything for the sake of the beauty of his bride.

Any obedience that isn't motivated by his great love is nothing more than penance.

God created us to be worshipers because it is right that he be known, loved and worshiped. This isn't because he is needy and wishes someone would tell him how special he is. No, it's because he is perfect and the worship of his perfection is holiness in action.

Porque el que te hizo es tu esposo; Su nombre es el Señor Todopoderoso. Tu Redentor es el Santo de Israel; ¡Dios de toda la tierra es Su nombre! (Is 54:5). Yo te haré mi esposa para siempre, y te daré como dote el derecho y la justicia, el amor y la compasión. Te daré como dote mi fidelidad, y entonces conocerás al Señor (Os 2:19-20). Padre, quiero que los que me has dado estén conmigo donde Yo estoy. Que vean Mi gloria, la gloria que me has dado porque me amaste desde antes de la creación del mundo (Jn 17:24). ¡Alegrémonos y regocijémonos y démosle gloria! Ya ha llegado el día de las bodas del Cordero (Ap 19:7).

We are completely and irrevocably justified; we have been entirely forgiven, reconciled, redeemed. We will have eternal life with him, and everything we go through now is in some way tied to these truths.

Here’s the reality of the great exchange:our sinful record became his, and he suffered the punishment we deserved. But that’s not all he has done. If it were, that would be a great blessing, indeed. To stand innocent—to be back where our first parents were in the garden—would certainly be wondrous. But he hasn’t left us there where Adam began. No, through the Second Adam, he has done even more for us; he has justified us. As you probably know, this concept of the great exchange is often referred to as justification. I’ve heard the word justified defined as “just as if I’d never sinned.” And while that’s true as far as it goes, it doesn’t go far enough. Not only do we have a clean slate as Adam did, we’ve got something written on that slate that is so amazing I can scarcely believe it:Jesus’ perfect record has become ours.

It’s essential for us to think about God’s love today because it is only his love that can grant us the joy that will strengthen our hearts, the courage that will embolden us in our fight against sin, and the assurance that will enable us to open up our lives to him so that he might deal powerfully with our unbelief and idolatry.

I am commanded to nurture and discipline my children for God's glory, not my own. When they fail, which of course they will-after all they're born in my likeness-I can comfort and instruct them because I'm a failure who's been comforted and instructed. Responding in kindness to their failures is not a simple matter of bootstrap obedience; it's a recognition of what the cross has declared about me and my identity. I've got a faithful heavenly Father who has adopted me, so I don't need to use my children to prove that I'm really okay. He has made me his own; that's all that matters.

The gospel was summarized in the verses above. It is the incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death, burial, bodily resurrection, ascension, and eternal reign of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.