“The apostle Peter teaches that a lack of ongoing transformation in our lives comes from forgetting what God has done for us in the gospel (2 Peter 1:3-9). If we are to grow into maturity in Christ, we must deepen and enlarge our understanding of the gospel as God’s appointed means for personal and communal transformation.”

[The gospel] “is not just the means of our salvation, but the means of our transformation.  It is not simply deliverance from sin’s penalty, but release from sins power.  The gospel is what makes us right with God (justification) and it is also what frees us to delight in God (sanctification).  The gospel changes everything!”

“The more I grow in my Christian life, the more I grow in my awareness of God’s holiness and of my flesh and sinfulness.” … “But my awareness of both is growing.  I am increasingly seeing God as he actually is (Isaiah 55:8-9) and myself as I actually am (Jeremiah 7:9-10).” … “As my understanding of my sin and of God’s holiness grows, something else grows:  my appreciation and love for Jesus.” … “The cross looms larger and more central in my life as I rejoice in the Savior who died upon it.”

“Because of the indwelling sin that remains in me, I have an ongoing tendency to minimize the gospel or ‘shrink the cross.’ This happens when I either (a) minimize God’s perfect holiness, thinking of him as something less than his Word declares him to be, or (b) elevate my own righteousness, thinking of myself as better than I actually am.  The cross becomes smaller and Christ’s importance in my life is diminished.”

“We need to identify, admit, and feel the depth of our brokenness and sinfulness.”

“Our hope is not in our own goodness, nor in the vain expectation that God will compromise his standards and ‘grade on a curve.’  Rather, we rest in Jesus as our perfect Redeemer – the One who is ‘our righteousness, holiness and redemption’ (1 Corinthians 1:30).”

-Exerted from The Gospel-Centered Life by World Harvest Mission, pages 8-10.  Download a sample of chapter 1 here