New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp l Daily Devotionals l Faith Book l Christian books l New Morning Mercies

The Perfect Mirror

Without knowing it, we put our identity and inner peace in the hands of the people around us. We look to them for what no flawed human being will ever be able to deliver. We ride the roller coaster of their views of us. We begin to do things not because they are right, but because we know they will please those whose opinion of us and acceptance of us mean more than they should. I think fear of man is a bigger motivation for many of us than we tend to admit. The gospel of Jesus Christ frees us from this. It presents to us the only reliable standard of self-evaluation—the perfect mirror of the Word of God. Then it frees me from seeking my identity horizontally because I am given an eternal identity in Christ.

What is a Ministry?

What do you want for your life? What are you really living for? If you could have the “good life,” what would it look like? Could it be that even though you are God’s child, you still think of your life as belonging to you? When you think of your life this way, then ministry is about stepping out of your life, giving God a little bit of your time, energy, and money, and then stepping back into your life. The New Testament does not teach a separation between life and ministry. Every dimension of your life is a forum for ministry. Marriage is ministry. Friendship is ministry. Being a neighbor is ministry. The workplace is a place of ministry. You have been called to represent a glorious Savior, who has graced you with everything you need to live with a ministry mentality.

Others Before God

We tend to put people in the place of God and ask them to do for us what only he can do. We look to people, who suffer from the same condition of sin, weakness, and failure as we do, as if they were the fourth member of the Trinity. We ask our loved ones to give us identity. We ask them to heal our hurts, to cause us to be happy. But they simply never, ever will rise to the level of our expectations. No human being can be your personal Savior. Jesus is life. He is the Savior, he is the One who alone gives spiritual life to our dead hearts. We are not born again by human blood, by human flesh, or by human will, but by God. Don’t put the burden of life on the person next to you.

What God Has Done

There is simply nothing you can do to gain God’s favor. You will never be righteous enough for long enough to satisfy God’s holy requirements. Your thoughts will never be pure enough. Your desires will never be holy enough. We lay down evidence every day that we will never independently reach God’s standard. But this hard-to-accept news is the to eternal hope and joy. It’s only when you accept who you are and what you are unable to do that you begin to understand the necessity of God’s gift. Since God hates sin, the only way we sinners could have a relationship with him is by Christ giving his life to pay the penalty for our sin. Christ has gained God’s favor on your behalf. Your obedience is gratitude to a God who met you where you were and did for you what you could not have done for yourself.

Too Satisfied

We are all too easily satisfied. We’re satisfied with a degree of biblical literacy, occasional moments of ministry, and a measure of personal spiritual growth. We’re sadly satisfied with being a little bit better when God’s goal is that we be completely remolded into his image. We get distracted by the temporary glories of the created world and begin to think that we can find our satisfaction there. While our Redeemer still works to redeem us from us, we are out chasing other lovers. We begin to believe that they can do for us what he alone can do. We begin to invest our time, energy, and hope in things that can never deliver. Hope is not found in the places where our hearts look for satisfaction, but in the Redeemer, who will complete his work even in those moments when we don’t care that he does.

Our Dwelling Place

God knew that the dilemma of our sin was such a deep personal moral disaster that it was not enough to forgive us. He knew that after our forgiveness and acceptance, we would need daily help. So he didn’t just forgive us. He didn’t just accept us. He made us the place where he dwells. Paul says it well: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

I don’t think that we celebrate this reality enough. By grace, he lives in us. By grace, he fights on our behalf even if we don’t have the sense to do so. We are able to choose and do what is right only because he lives in us and gives us the power to do so by his grace. He hasn’t just forgiven us, he’s taken up residence in us, and in that there is real hope.