1.13.2008

The Discipline of Grace.



God is no longer our judge. Through Christ He is now our Heavenly Father who disciplines us only out of love and only for our good...

Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace...

God looks to see if we are trusting in the merit of His Son as our only hope for securing His blessing.

If the love of Christ for us is to be the motivating force for a life of discipleship (2 Cor. 5:14), how then can we come to the place where we are acutely conscious of His love? The answer is, through the gospel. It is, of course, the Holy Spirit who pours out His love into our hearts, but He does this through the message of the gospel. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus paid for all our sins on the cross and that we are thereby forgiven. As we continually reflect upon that gospel, the Holy Spirit floods our hearts with a sense of God's love to us in Christ. And that sense of His love motivates us in a compelling way to live for Him.

3 comments:

Dianna Wood said...

Greetings,

I am new to the blogosphere. I wanted to let you know (if you don't already) that hudreds of bloggers have joined the "Puritan Challenge" and are reading one Puritan Paper back a month and sharing their thoughts via blogs.

This month is Richard Sibbes "The Bruised Reed". Just google "Puritan Challenge" to find out more.

Enjoyed your posts. Blessings to You,

ForHisSake

James McCullough said...

That is a brilliant book Robbie.I read it a couple of months ago and found what Bridges said really helpful. It's so easy to begin to think in a "works=blessing" mindset even as Christians.This book is really good for correcting some of our false ideas that creep into our thinking.

Robbie Schmidtberger said...

Bridges is amazing. Every book of his that I have read is gospel saturated. I am looking forward to his two new books, respectable sins and the great exchange. After his break from writing he apparently returned in full force.

Also if you love Bridges, check out some of Tim Keller's articles. 2 are linked at the top of this blog. He is a great communicator with spectacular insights.