Viewing entries tagged
Beginner’s Guide to the Gospel-Centered Life
What do you do when your child has disobeyed you or broken your rules? The temptation is to play the part of a sentencing judge. Lying to your sister? Go to your room! Stayed out too late? You’re grounded. If all we do is hand out sentences and demand obedience, there is no good news in our parenting.
The Bible’s teaching on marriage can be misunderstood when we bring our cultural baggage to the Bible’s commands. The gospel can transform our vision for marriage when we see how Jesus’ humility, sacrifice, and love provide the foundation for a Christ-centred relationship.
Christians can sometimes read Jesus’ teachings like a self-help book. But when we reduce Jesus’ teachings to principles and rules, we empty them of their power. The heart of Jesus’ message was God’s grace given to transform us. We see this in the way Jesus responded when Peter came to Him with a question about a difficult relationship.
Many Christians bring a non-Christian mindset to how they live the Christian life. When they hear a sermon, they only hear what they have to do. When they open the Bible, they only see God’s commands. And, ironically, Christianity can become a non-Christian religion in the process. There’s a simple pattern that the Scriptures give for correcting this: start with DONE before you move to DO.
Most Christians leave the gospel at the door of the Christian life. They see the good news about Jesus as the key to getting started in their faith but then struggle to see how the gospel is also the engine that drives the life we were created to live. As a result, they end up running on fumes and living the Christian life like a non-Christian.
