Since I'm going to preach on the gospel the next few months, some Friday Books will be gospel reads. Like Milton Vincent's excellent The Gospel Primer. Just 53 pages of "Learning to see the glories of God's Love". Like Vincent, I was a Christian for many years before starting to figure out that the gospel which saved me was what I needed to live by--and rest in. Its power courses through our veins because of our relationship to God through Christ but is too often the missing link that explains a lot of defeat, joylessness, self-effort, and despair in believers.
The gospel also reminds me that my righteous standing with God always holds firm regardless of my performance, because my standing is based solely on the work of Jesus and not mine. On my worst days of sin and failure, the gospel encourages me with God's unrelenting grace toward me. On my best days of victory and usefulness, the gospel keeps me relating to God solely on the basis of Jesus' righteousness and not mine.
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