“I am eager to preach the gospel to you (Scotty) … for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (including you, Scotty). Rom.1:15–16
Lord Jesus, like Paul, I’m eager to preach the Gospel today, beginning with my own heart. Until you glorify me (us), I will continue to need the riches and implications of the Gospel. And, hallelujah, out of your fullness, you will keep giving “grace upon grace” (John 1:16). So here we go.
The worst and best of me don’t define me. You do—not my spiritual discipline, dark imagination, generosity, vanity, parenting/spousing, mission trips, or harshest words. You are my “righteousness, holiness, and redemption” (1Cor.1:30). You fulfilled the demands of the law for me (Rom. 10:14), and now you’re fulfilling the beauty of the law in me (Rom. 8:4).
Because he hid my life in yours, God can’t love me more and he’ll never love me less (Col.3:1-5)—even when I “crush it” or “blow it.” In fact, as my Father, God loves me as much as he loves you. (Rom. 8:15-16; Eph. 1:5; John 17:23). And now it’s in love, not contempt, he disciplines me and all his children (Heb. 12:6).
Sealed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor.1:22; John 7:37-39), nothing can separate me from the love of God (Rom. 8:38-39) and nothing can separate me from the God of love (Heb. 13:5).
Jesus, when I think about my inevitable death and heaven, here is my peace and assurance: Your life for me and in me is my only and sure “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Because of you, I have already “passed from judgment to life” (John 5:24). I needed to hear the Gospel today, Jesus, and will tomorrow too. So Very Amen.