As we move from the topic of Glory, the ultimate purpose of all that we do and the ultimate end for which God is most passionate, it leads my thoughts to that which glorifies Him most – the depraved sinner who is radically transformed by Christ and given new life!  So, for today’s theme, let me invite you to focus on the Gospel.

I have three quick thoughts as you move in to Day Two of our week-long fast…Called, Community, and Continue.

Called (Morning Reflection)
I was listening to a message this morning and the pastor was preaching from Colossians 3:12-17.  The first phrase hit me like a 100 pound weight.  If we have been born-again (repented, been radically transformed to new life in Christ…to dig into this more, I invite you to listen to two messages we did from John 3 a while back), we are included in those who are “holy and beloved.”  WOW!  You mean, the person I see in the mirror – filled with fears, with an insurmountable gap between where I am now and being conformed to the image of Christ apart from Him, who struggles to do the things I am supposed to and struggles to avoid that which I am to avoid – that guy is holy (set apart, consecrated) and beloved by the God of the universe?????  Spend the morning reflecting on this reality. This is who we are…if we are in Christ!

Community (Afternoon Reflection)
The message I listened to went on to highlight something Paul Tripp touched on at our retreat last week.  In America, we are so conditioned to think of our Christian life as a “personal relationship” with Christ.  To be sure, it is a personal and intimate relationship – and that alone is staggering!  But, we can easily have a tendency to insert our American culture into this reality.  What do I mean by that?  When you have a conversation with someone and they respond, “that’s personal!”  What are they instructing you to do?  Stop talking about that.  After all, that’s personal…none of your business…I’ll take care of that myself.

So many times we can put up such barriers in our Christian walk.  But, as the Colossians passage continues to develop, God designed the Christian life to be about “one anothers” (Colossians 3:13, 16), “harmony” (Colossians 3:14), and “one body” (Colossians 3:15).  And, in a very magnificent way, God has designed us as a church to be a unified testimony to the outside world of what a community grounded in Christ and interacting as He has designed can look like.  Oh, how I pray that our church will be such an expression.  And, guess what?  It starts with you and me!

Continuing (Evening Reflection)
This one doesn’t really come out of the Colossians passage per se.  But, for whatever reason, I have a tendency to consider the Gospel as a transaction or something that has occurred in my past.  The Gospel is a way of life!  It is what started this journey (justification), what moves us along (sanctification), and will one day be completed (glorification)!

Reflect this evening on the Gospel reality of your life today.  From where do you get your identity?  Is it your job?  Your family?  Your possessions?  What defines who you are?  If it is something in the horizontal, what happens to you when that identity is threatened?

Is not our identity simply Christ and His righteousness?  The Gospel is more than a transaction.  It is more than a past experience.  It is who we are!  Spend some time reflecting on how the Gospel is impacting you in your present reality and how you are living it out for all to see!

Thought For the Day…
“When we fast, enslavement is broken and we are freed up to focus our hunger upon what we really want.” – James MacDonald

What we really want…what our hearts yearn for behind all the distractions is Christ!  That is the Gospel!  As you go without food – or whatever God has laid on your heart – may God continue to chip away at any areas in which you are enslaved!