What does it mean to “preach the gospel to yourself?”

One of the weaknesses of the evangelical church in our day is that we tend to look at our salvation as a process, like we’re moving down an assembly line. There are good reasons for this perspective, not the least of which is the great chain of salvation in Romans 8. There is an order to it all. The trouble comes, however, when we think that once we have gone through one step we can leave behind all it entails. The gospel, for instance, and the faith that grabbed hold of it saved us the moment we believed. Yea and amen. It was, whether we remember it or not, a point in time, a once for all moving from death to life.

In our new life, however, we neither lose our need to hear the gospel, nor our need to believe it. Hearing and believing the gospel are not once for all things. Now don’t misunderstand. I’m not suggesting that once we believe we can ever stop believing. Of course not. I am suggesting, however, that the very essence of our walk, of growing in grace is believing more fully what we already believe. Which is why we preach the gospel to ourselves.

Have you ever been discouraged by your sin? You need to believe the gospel. Have you ever been discouraged by the sins of other believers against you? You need to believe the gospel. Have you ever been discouraged by seeing the wicked prosper? You need to believe the gospel. So preach it.

We preach the gospel to ourselves when we simply remember its promises. We remember that we are indeed, in ourselves sinners, justly deserving His displeasure. But we remember that we are not in ourselves, but in Jesus. Our sins are covered in His blood. His righteousness has become our own. We have peace with the living God. He has adopted us into His family. He has promised that we will see Him as He is, and we will be like Him. His steadfast love for us endures forever, each of us, by name. And, the day is coming when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. He will bring all things into subjection, when He will deliver the kingdom to the Father (I Cor. 15).

We can simply rehearse these truths in the quiet of our minds. We can recite the passages of Scripture that teach them. We can sing songs that celebrate them, read writings that herald them. We can talk with friends who know them and pray to the One who knows us. Gospel simply means “good news” and for we who are in Christ, it is all good news.

Joy is the steady conviction that God is able, and that God is for us. The gospel is the ground of that joy. Hear it; heed it; speak it. Repeat.