Gospel change is not the result of simply trying harder to do better the next time we face temptation.  Fighting against our personal shortcomings and sins is never enough to consistently win the battle and prevail in the end.  We must, by God’s grace, fight for something better that is offered to us than what the temptation offers to us.  A better way.  A better delight.  A better outcome.  Our inside-out transformation is not just a fight against something; it’s a fight for something.  It’s a fight for the guilt-free, longer-lasting, fuller option. Let us resist temptation by embracing and enjoying all that God offers to us in Jesus.

Who you were.  What you do.  Where you’re from.  Where you’re going.  What you believe.  Who you are. Every Christian has a story to tell, and each one is important and worth telling when Jesus is rightly portrayed as the Hero of it.  Your narrative is unique, and you will unfold it in bits and pieces in everyday conversations with the people in your life.  As you do, be sure to point them to the Author of your story Who is the Source of every good thing you have in your life and all that you hope for in the one to come.  Tell your story.  Tell His story.  People need to know what you know … that they need to know Jesus.

If you know a tornado is headed for me, I don’t want you to disregard, downplay, deceive, or delay in telling me about the danger of my situation or my inaction.   I want the truth.  I need the truth.  I may not like the truth, but my life depends upon you telling me the truth.  As Christians we should be… Lovers of truth.  Guardians of truth. Speakers of truth.  Receivers of truth.  But we shouldn’t be manufacturers of our own truth. God has ordained that we communicate the truths of His word and His world to each other so that we can be set free from sinful self-destruction and find our way to safety in Him.  Truth matters.

What you’ll discover about life with Jesus is this… The better you know Him, the longer you follow Him, and the greater you enjoy Him, the deeper you will experience all the blessings and benefits of grace.  He will be honored in you and you will be happy in Him.  And that’s what grace is all about.  God and sinner reconciled so that… God receives the full and lasting worship He’s always deserved, and you receive the full and lasting happiness you’ve always desired.  It starts now, grows over time, and will extend into eternity where it will explode into unhindered, unbridled, uninterrupted pleasure forevermore.

Many people see the commands of Christ as “restrictive rules” that are keeping the good stuff out of our lives instead of seeing them as “gracious guardrails” that are keeping our lives out of the gutter.  He is our Good Shepherd Who protects us, provides for us, empowers us, refreshes us, delights us, guides us and delivers us safely to our eternal home in heaven.  How?  We hear His voice (the words of the Bible with all of its instructions, truths and promises made clear to us by the Holy Spirit) calling us into His care, and by faith we do as He says.  He leads.  We follow.  That’s it.   He takes care of us by taking care of all the rest.

The things of this world were not designed to bring you full and lasting satisfaction; that’s why they never do. They leave you longing for something more, something different, something better.  You’ll look for it your entire life in people, places, pursuits and possessions, but you’ll only find it in Jesus. He doesn’t offer to get us that new job, new spouse, new vacation, new baby, new home, new personal best, new recognition, new bill of health, or new thing that we think will make us happy.  He offers to give us Himself.  Our satisfaction depends not on us having the things of this world, but on us having Him.

Today, when that temptation is offered, that relationship blows up, that meeting goes wrong, that diagnosis is grim, that pleasure is available, that problem shows up, that plan falls through, and that thing happens … you will believe something to be true.  Instead of believing sin’s promises that you have been abandoned by God, or you should accept a substitute for God, believe the promises of God.  Place your full weight on God’s Word, for it is the only solid ground in a world full of cleverly-disguised sinking sand.  If He says it, you can believe it.  And if you can believe it, you can experience its life-giving assurances.

There is an infinite difference between…  Who we were and who we are.  What we were and what we are. We were sinners who were infinitely separated from God with no hope of avoiding the coming judgment and wrath for our sin.  But God demonstrated His infinite love for us by sending Jesus to shower infinite grace upon us through His perfect life, sacrificial death and victorious resurrection.  By faith, we are now infinitely forgiven through Him, infinitely connected to Him, infinitely secure in Him, and infinitely blessed by Him!  So… Let us use our lips and our lives to give Him what He deserves:  infinite praise.

One thing most of us struggle with is disobedience by delay.  That is, we wait to do what God has called and equipped us to do. We wait until a more convenient time, thinking we have plenty of time, but more often than not, we will run out of time.    For most of us, God doesn’t mean for us to wait until some future day to serve Him by going out in a million-dollar blaze of glory, but rather He wants us to give ourselves to Him in daily nickels and dimes of service.  By grace, lay up treasures in heaven with how you use your time today. It’s not what you leave behind that matters most.  It’s what you forward ahead.

God will bring you through 100% of your dark days until He brings you home.  He will not forget you a single moment.  He will not forsake you a single time.  He will not fail you a single day. Will it always be easy? No. Will it always be comfortable? No.  Will it always be the way you want it? No. But it will always be under the careful, calculated and compassionate rule of a Father Who loves you and has a purpose for you.   Don’t give up!  Keep going! You are alive and breathing today because God made it so; God made it so because you were made to be a light in this dark world.  And you are not done shining yet.

For those who are trusting in Jesus, God is always doing much more in us, for us, around us, and through us than we are aware of.  All we see is the show, but He is working behind the scenes.  All we see is the ship, but He is working beneath the surface.  He is precise.  He is punctual.  He is providential.  We don’t have to make sense out of everything that is going on or that we are going through, but we do need to trust that God is tirelessly at work in ways that would make sense if we knew all that He knows.  And when we can’t see it with our eyes, let us believe it in our hearts.  That’s what faith is for.

This is the model, means, and motivation for every expression of our love toward the people God has put into our lives…  Jesus loves us.  Jesus loves us.  Jesus loves us.   For who better to love imperfect people than those who were at their own worst when Jesus loved them anyway?  He loved us then.  He loves us now.  He will keep loving us forever. Listen:  It’s not about trying harder to love better; it’s about rejoicing in the love that God has shown us in Jesus and then responding by loving Him back and sharing His love with other people.  There is grace for us when we get this wrong and grace to help us get it right.

Jesus did it all.  Jesus paid it all.  Jesus conquered it all. We couldn’t live up to God’s standards, so Jesus lived perfectly for us.  We couldn’t break free from sin, so He set us free.  We couldn’t atone for our transgressions, so Jesus died in our place.  We couldn’t defeat death, so He conquered the grave so we too will rise. We couldn’t earn an eternal retirement, so He paid for our inheritance.  We have become rich in salvation, forgiveness, joy, peace, glory, kindness, favor, righteousness, love and hope because of what He accomplished on our behalf.   Every good thing that is ours displays the good news of Jesus.

Do you believe that Jesus is alive?  Then don’t live as if He’s still dead.  Don’t live as if you are left to your own wisdom, strength and resources to navigate through life.  Don’t live as if this world and its stuff is all there is, and you can’t be happy unless you have more of it.   Don’t live as if your life has no real meaning and purpose, and how you spend your time doesn’t really matter.   Don’t live as if you are a victim of temptation and sin, powerless to stand up to it and resist it and defeat it.  Don’t live as if life is out of control, and you have just cause to worry and fear and dread.  If you believe He’s alive, live like He’s alive!

He Is Risen! We can rejoice and worship for the empty tomb changes everything.  Because the Lamb of God was slain, rose again and the tomb is now empty, we can be forgiven and free forever. If you are trusting Him, you are a new person with a new eternity in your future, and new potential, new purpose, new power, new pleasure in Him for everyday life even now. All because He lives! This is our hope:  Jesus has overcome the world, is with us as we live in the world, provides all that we need in this world, and promises to come back to deliver us from this world. Rejoice! Our lives are full because the tomb is empty.

Wait it out.  Wait and see.  Wait upon the Lord.  Things will break our hearts and leave us in stunned silence. But our God is sovereign, and though the sinfulness of people, the brokenness of this world and the maliciousness of Satan all rise up to seemingly stop God’s work, He makes them bow down and serve His purposes.  Struggles, suffering, sin and Satan will be defeated! Every foe we will ever face will be overturned, overthrown and overcome because Jesus is putting and will put every enemy under His foot in final and forever victory.  Until then, we wait.  But we wait in real hope of better things.

Confusion.  Shock.  Fear.  Uncertainty.  Heartbreak.  Silence.   When they laid the breathless, lifeless body of Jesus in the tomb, it must have seemed like their own breath and life had been drained from them.   Jesus. Was. Dead. And when the stone was rolled into place, it must have looked like their hopes and fate were sealed inside with the One they had pinned their hopes on and trusted their fate to.  They didn’t see it coming and wished they hadn’t seen it at all.  They laid Jesus there.  But He would not lie there for long.  They thought it was the end.  But it was just the beginning.  It was finished.  But it was not over.

The gruesomeness of what Jesus went through should grip us.  This was going to be an ugly, horrific scene that should rightly furrow our brows, sicken our stomachs, and stab our hearts because it was our sin that caused this sacrifice to be needed.  The graciousness of what Jesus went through should also grip us.  This was going to be a beautiful, wonderful act of love that should make our eyes dance, make our faces smile, and make our hearts leap with joy because He was willing to do this for us. Hallelujah! No one goes to heaven except through Him.  And no one would go through Him unless He went to the cross.

Jesus knew what awaited in Jerusalem.  Unimaginable torment.  Unthinkable anguish.  Unspeakable evil.  Unwarranted brutality. Unprecedented suffering.  No one would ever face anything like what Jesus set His face to go to.  He would absorb the wrath of God for our sins to secure the grace of God for our salvation so we could become the people of God for all eternity. He knew the horror of what was coming, but He lovingly and unflinchingly set his face towards it, locked eyeballs with it, and did not back away, back off or back down from it.  The spotless Lamb of God headed for the place of His slaughter for us.

Jesus lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, and rose victoriously from the grave.  He did not live, die and rise so we could remain stuck in our sin and struggles as if He did nothing at all.  He came to forgive us and free us from: bitterness, selfishness, laziness, unkindness, purposelessness, sadness, fearfulness and all ungodliness so we might walk in newness of life.  Sin-defeating, life-enabling, heart-transforming, joy-securing resurrection power is ours!  May we have a confidence in and dependance on the power and presence of Jesus today.  We aren’t who we used to be, and we don’t have to live like we are.