The 2 Errors

As I reflected and evaluated my recent actions and the root of my heart, I see such wretchedness and brokenness. My sin is what I see. It's not just one sin, but it's one after another. I am sinking and drenching myself in materialism, jealousy, bitterness, hate, envy, sloth, complacency, gossip, and lack of passion for the Gospel.

As I journey onto the second part of chapter 1 in The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges, I am reminded that "a reply reveals an all-too-common misconception of the Christian life: the thinking that, although we are saved by grace, we earn or forfeit God's blessings in our daily lives by our performance"-Bridges15. For an example: Good and bad day scenario:
When faced with a bad day spiritually, when it seems like we've done everything wrong and we end up feeling guilty or perhaps a good day when all our spiritual disciplines are in place we are reasonably satisified with our Christian performance. So how good is good enough?

The point of this good day, bad day comparison is that regardless of our performance, we are always dependent on God's grace! We do not deserve His favor, rather we deserve His wrath! (Bridges19).

The gospel is for sinners. Or those who acknowledge themselves as sinners. Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke5:32) Without the continual reminder of the gospel, we can fall into one of the two errors.

1st error- focus on our external performance and become proud like the Pharisees / we might begin to look down on those who are not as disciplined, obedient, and committed as we are
2nd error- the feeling of guilt / although we are exposed to the disciplines of a Christian life to obedience, service, and in our hearts we have responded to these changes. We then put the gospel on the shelf and we struggle with the failure and guilt of our sin, but we again are focusing on our performance we forget the meaning of GRACE- God's unmerited favor to those
who deserve only His wrath.

Romans 3:23-25 (English Standard Version)

²³for^A)">(A) all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴^B)">(B) and are justified^C)">(C) by his grace as a gift,^D)">(D) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God^E)">(E) put forward as^F)">(F) a propitiation^G)">(G) by his blood, to be received by faith.