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Day Three

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under Gods curse.” 

Galatians 1:6-8 NIV

 

What would you say is at the center of your life?  What do you wake up thinking about, and what do you go to sleep thinking about?  Is it worry, anxiety, fear, your future, your past, your job, your children, your possessions, or “things” you wished you “possessed”?

Like a pinball machine, my own thoughts and desires seem to ricochet from passion to passion.  How I wish I could be more like Paul, whose passions and focus seem steadfastly riveted on the gospel!

These foolish Galatians were first-generation believers but had added to the simple truth of the gospel. They’d been listening to teachers who were trying to add requirements to the gospel message.

John Piper says the gospel is the “truth that sinful beings stand ‘justified’ before God not on the basis of any righteousness of our own doing, but only on the basis of a Christ – crucified, risen, and righteous”. Piper also says, “Everyday people in your family and your church are being lured away from Christ as their supreme treasure.” Keeping Christ and the gospel central in our lives changes everything, including our prayers.  We have a redeemer who came when we were utterly helpless with no way of escape!
The gospel changes prayer from mere petition…to fellowship and the praise of His glory! So today preach the gospel to yourself before you come before the throne of grace.  Meditate on your need for the gospel and ask the Lord to make the gospel central in your life and in your prayers!