June 12th. Day 12 of walking through “Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily” — Part 1 of “A Gospel Primer for Christians” by Milton Vincent.

Today’s reason — Stimulated to Love Others.

About this reason to rehearse the gospel daily, Vincent says this...

“When my mind is fixed on the gospel, I have ample stimulation to show God’s love to other people. For I am always willing to show love to others when I am freshly mindful of the love that God has shown me. {Titus 3:1-8} Also, the gospel gives me the wherewithal to give forgiving grace to those who have wronged me, for it reminds me daily of the forgiving grace that God is showing me.” {Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:12-13}

He goes on to say...

“Doing good and showing love to those who have wronged me is always the opposite of what my sinful flesh wants me to do. Nonetheless, when I remind myself of my sins against God and of his forgiving grace toward me, I give the gospel an opportunity to reshape my perspective and put me in a frame of mind wherein I actually desire to give this same grace to those who have wronged me.”

As I was reading today’s reasons to rehearse the gospel daily, my eyes welled up with tears when I came to that last sentence. In a nutshell...

The gospel has power through Christ’s obedience, but the gospel finds opportunities through our obedience.

And then the Holy Spirit sweetly reminded me by flooding my mind with times (one just this past Thursday) when the gospel indeed stimulated me to love others, and I know it was ALL Jesus because just moments prior I had such a bad attitude and selfishly wanted to do things/have things my way, but as soon as I confessed my sin to Him, He forgave me and made a way for me to show His love to others.

A supernatural exchange takes place in our lives when the gospel takes its rightful place in our hearts and by daily rehearsing reasons for living it. The exchange manifests in so many ways. When we’re daily walking and talking with God, we’ll more readily recognize it.

His righteousness for our sin.

His love for our hate.

His forgiveness for our bitterness.

His strength for our weakness.

We are so much more in Christ! We have access to so much more through the gospel. It is a supernatural thing that stimulates us to love and good deeds.

The gospel has power through Christ’s obedience, but the gospel finds opportunities through our obedience.