Preach the Gospel to Yourself Daily

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I did not preach yesterday, but a dear friend and brother in the Lord did.  I am so grateful for the wisdom Mark McCullough has dispensed into my life.  Every time I am around him I am challenged to be more committed to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  One of the things Mark does so well is he teaches a truth one may already know, but in such a fashion that when he has finished you have a deeper and richer understanding of the concept.

For example, I know from Romans 8:1 there is no condemnation for those of us in Christ Jesus.  Mark did not use this verse, but taught us the need to preach the gospel to ourselves every day.  In other words, we get ourselves so wrapped up in the things of this world that we get distracted from our relationship in Christ.  Before we realize just how far we have drifted from the Lord we start to live condemned lives.

Satan begins to beat up on us and we fall prey to his evil attacks and the lies he spews towards us.  Now, we all know we are no longer condemned for our sins if we truly are born again and have a relationship with the Lord.  Too often, however, we live just the opposite from this freedom.

So, what ought we to do?  We ought to preach the gospel to ourselves every single day.  We ought to evaluate our lives on an ongoing basis through the leans of the gospel.  When we live life this we we begin to understand and appreciate grace even more.  We also begin to understand we are incapable of being perfect people and we are more forgiving of ourselves.  For many of us we are too hard and too condemning, and in reality, it is a type of pride.  It is a pride in which we say our judgment is higher and better than the Lords.  This false humility is just another form of enslavement to sin.

If, however, we understand the gospel, it radically impacts the way we live our life in freedom each day.  Now this truth does not mean we get the freedom to sin for the sake of sinning.  Nor is it a place of justification for our lack of obedience.  Rather, it is the power to be transformed in the midst of sinful chaos and to reflect the grace of God.

When we have learned how to be forgiving of ourselves, we also learn how to be forgiving of other people as well.  We stop putting unreasonable burdens on other people.  We are able to love them the way Christ loves them because of His work in our lives.

Beloved, preach the gospel to yourselves each day.  Let the cleansing of God’s Word penetrate deep into your soul and enable you to live a victorious life in Christ Jesus.

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