Reading bits of Timothy Keller & Charles Spurgeon has been good for me. Some things have come into focus that I've needed to see.
In "The King's Cross", Keller contrasts religion and the gospel. Religion is do's and don'ts, the lists if what is required so I am acceptable, and it puts the focus on me. Me working out my salvation, trying to earn it. Tiring stuff, but even so, my tendency is toward religion and collecting accomplishments that make me a model Christian girl. A gospel mindset is different because gospel means "good news", and knowing the good news of "though our sins are scarlet, He washed them white as snow," asks for a different response. It promotes worshiping the real God and not my accomplished self. It's grace, a free, costly gift.
This morning in the "Evening and Morning" app (it's free in iTunes!), Spurgeon talked about the Lord's Prayer and how the first phrase, "Our Father" indicates the importance of our grasping the spirit of adoption. That blew me away. He's my Father through adoption, not because I was so awesome that I deserved to be picked.
The theme I see is Jesus in His grace saved me; I strive so hard to do things to merit that salvation, but I miss out when I do. I want to live under the blanket of grace, so, so aware if the good news that saves.
