Released from the burden of having to maintain my righteous standing with God, I quickly found that I had enormous amounts of passion to put into growing in holiness and ministering God’s amazing grace to other people.  I had never had such energy available for ministry before, because so much of it was consumed with tending to my standing before God.  I also found the grace of the gospel producing in me a huge passion to love and obey God.  In moments of temptation, I enjoyed saying to myself “You know, I can commit this sin, and God’s grace would abound to me all the more as He maintains my justified status…But it is precisely for this reason that I choose not to commit this sin!”

The Gospel Primer (p. 96)

LORD, God,

I want to live a life that is built upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.  Help me to be strengthened by you and not motivated by guilt. 

Especially during this time of the year, help me to live in the joy of Christ's righteousness and not the bitterness of self-righteousness.

AMEN.