This is Just Amazing
Posted on November 20, 2017 by Graeme Wilson in Freedom Fighters
Good morning on this new week of Freedom Fighter blogs. We are so thankful that you are tracking with us.
I have shared things with you from Dr. Paul David Tripp’s devotional, NEW MORNING MERCIES. This was just too good to pass up. I DID NOT WRITE THIS!!!
One of the themes of this devotional is that biblical faith never requires that you deny reality. If you have to turn your back on what is real and true in order to have some temporary personal peace, you may feel better, but what you’re exercising is not the faith of the Bible. This realism applies to the sin that still remains in you and is being progressively eradicated by God’s powerful grace.
There is a great temptation to deny or at least to minimize our sin. However, you are never moving in a productive spiritual direction when, by self-atoning arguments, you make your sin look less like sin. You don’t protect the message of the gospel by denying your own spiritual struggles, and God surely doesn’t need you to defend his reputation by faking it.
This is not to say you should make your sin the focus of your meditation. It is simply a denial of the amazing grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ to treat yourself as an unworthy, impure, and incapable spiritual worm.
You must not meditate on the judgment of God. You must not squirm at the thought of his presence. You must not allow yourself to wonder if he loves you. You must not see yourself as unworthy of his care. You must not work to measure up in his sight. You must not think that he acts more favorably to you when you are obedient than when you sin. You must not beat yourself up when you fail. You must not give yourself to acts of payment and penance after you have messed up in God’s eyes.
You must not envy the worthiness of the person next to you, as if he or she is more accepted by God because he or she is more spiritually mature than you. You must never run from God in fear as you think of the empirical evidence of remaining sin that you give every day.
What you and I must meditate on every day is the absolute perfection and completeness of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was perfect in his life, perfect in his death, and perfect in his resurrection. There is nothing we could ever think, desire, say, or do that could in any way add to the forgiveness and acceptance that we have received from God based on Christ’s work. You are perfect in the eyes of God because the perfect righteousness of Jesus has been attributed to your spiritual account. You are righteous before God even in those moments when what you are doing is not righteous.
You measure up in his eyes even on those days when you don’t measure up, because Jesus measured up on your behalf. Yes, you should acknowledge the sad reality of remaining sin, but you must not make that sin your meditation. Meditate on and celebrate the amazing grace that has completely changed your identity, potential, and destiny.
Wow! I trust this will encourage your heart today.
Rejoice, Pray! Give thanks!
Bill Welte
President/CEO of America’s Keswick
Written by Bill Welte, President/CEO of America’s Keswick: Bill has been married to his child sweetheart for 40+ years and has four married kids and 11 amazing grand kids. He loves music and is an avid reader.
The Daily Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 20-22| You can download our 2017 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here
Think About This: “While sin is still a sad and ever-present reality in each of our lives, it is simply no match for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul David Tripp
This Week’s Verse to Memorize:
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7
Want to get away & have dedicated time to read & learn God’s Word?
Consider a retreat at America’s Keswick retreat center.
