The Christian Life Isn’t About the Christian
This quote from Michael Horton surfaced on my Twitter feed yesterday. It rocked my thinking. He said,
If the focus of our testimony is our changed life, we as well as our hearers are bound to be disappointed.
Somehow we’ve come to think that the Christian life is all about the Christian. We’ve somehow concluded that this whole thing is about us, our performance, and how we’re doing. We’ve self-centralized the message of the gospel to be about us and our performance.
That used to be my way of thinking. My assurance was tied to how I was doing at any given moment. If my assurance lacked, the counsel I received from others amounted to a to-do list. Questions like, “What are you reading?” “Who are you meeting with?” and “Are you practicing hospitality?” were commonplace. In other words, you need to do more and do it better. Unfortunately, I counseled others that same way.
But this way of thinking about the Christian life puts our changed life and our performance at the center. But that’s a spot reserved only for Jesus. The gospel message isn’t “do more.” The gospel message is “it is finished.” Find your comfort and assurance there, not in your own sanctification. Be in awe of Jesus.
-Mike
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