Learning CHRIST at the Crossroads

I found the other day in my reading several concise paragraphs from Jerry Bridges' book Disciplines of Grace that describe in the most succinct way the family church affiliation crossroads we find ourselves in. I'll let Bridges' words speak for themselves, though I have taken the liberty of bolding key phrases.

"Every day in our Christian experience should be a day of relating to God on the basis of His grace alone. We are not only saved by grace, but we also live by grace every day. This grace comes through Christ, "through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace in which we now stand" (Romans 5:2).

"A significant part of the Mosaic Law was the promise of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Some Christians live as if that principle applies to them today. But Paul said that "the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24). Christ has already borne the curses for our disobedience and earned for us the blessings of obedience. As a result we are now to look to Christ alone--not Christ plus our performance--for God's blessings in our lives. We are saved by grace and we are to live by grace alone. 

"When we pray to God for His blessing, He does not examine our performance to see if we are worthy. Rather, He looks to see if we are trusting in the merit of His Son as our only hope for securing His blessing. To repeat, We are saved by grace, and we are to live by grace every day of our Christian lives.

"If it is true that our relationship with God is based on His grace instead of our performance, why then are we so prone to fall into the good-day--bad-day type of thinking? It is because we have relegated the gospel to the unbelievers." (page 19)