mgpcpastor's blog

Brian Chapell is a skilled Bible teacher and preacher, author and president of Covenant Theological Seminary.
The link on his daily devotional page, Living Christ Today now works in my Google Reader, a recent and welcome development. I hope it continues.
The devotions are short excerpts from various books by Chapell, but each features a loyal engagement with a biblical text with well suited illustrations.
Here’s today’s entry:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
— Ephesians 2:8–9

Many years ago, the preacher Phillips Brooks explained grace as God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. This expresses beautifully how the blessings of God, which Jesus alone deserves, are passed mercifully to us when we trust that Christ’s work on the cross, rather than our own achievements, is the basis for our righteousness. God sees us as though we were as holy as his own Son, and treats us as lovingly despite our imperfections.
Most Christians cherish the beauty of this truth. Yet many, after initially trusting in Christ to make them right with God, embark on an endless struggle to retain God’s affection by doing good works they think will keep him loving them. This turns the Christian life—which should be a joyful walk with the Lord—into a perpetual race on a performance treadmill.
While the Christian life can rightly be characterized as a race (see Gal. 5:7; 2 Tim. 4:7; Heb. 12:1), we persevere on the course God marks out for us not by straining to gain his affection but by the assurance that he never stops viewing us from the perspective of his grace. God continually offers us unconditional love and encouragement; our status as his children does not vary even though our efforts do.
When I see my son’s energy flag in his cross-country meets, I shout encouragement to revive his resolve and keep him going. I know that threats or expressions of frustration would ultimately sap his strength even if they might spur him on momentarily. Our heavenly Father’s encouragement rings even more powerfully, wisely, lovingly, and continually in his children’s souls. We race in the confidence that his grace does not cease just because we have faltered. Grace becomes not only the means by which God once justifies us; it is also the means by which we are continually encouraged and enabled to serve him with undiminished delight.
If we view ourselves from an earthly perspective, we will so focus on our weaknesses and stumbles that the race to please God will be misery. But if we remember that God is the lifter of our heads (Ps. 3:3), then we will raise our eyes to see the affection in his own.
When we know that his regard for us does not waver, then his grace quickens our steps, strengthens our hearts, and delights our souls to carry on. Hallelujah!