"It is the love of God, admiration and confidence in His greatness and goodness, and regular experience of His care that free us from the burden of looking out for ourselves." (Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart)
"The secret of the Christian life is to let the reality of the Gospel filter down into the cracks and crevices of your life, both rationally & experientially." (Jonathan Edwards)
What is the reality of the gospel that we want to filter down?
That salvation is exclusively a work of God's grace. He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Our souls are dead because of our sin. God sends Jesus to be punished for our sin, in our place. He takes our punishment and, in exchange, gives us His perfection. Because we have His perfection we are adopted as a child of God, having all the gifts that a good Father gives His children. He makes us more like Him, and if faithful to us all the days of our lives.
Because Jesus did all the perfect acts or works that we could not, we no longer have to gain God's approval by what we do. We don't have to be afraid that we are not good enough, smart enough, nice enough, rich enough, responsible enough, successful enough....We don't have to worry about not being enough any longer. We are loved and accepted where we are!
When this is a reality, we are beyond motivated to do what God is calling us to do! We don't serve God because we want to earn His approval. We serve Him because we already have His approval!
Please pray for us, that these truths will sink down into our souls. We'll be praying that for you too!
Reflections on mission to Japan's next generation
