Set Your Hope on Christ

Ray Ortland:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  Matthew 11:28

The sacred center of Christianity is Christ himself.  Coming personally to the Person.  Coming directly to the Mediator.  No one but Jesus can call us with such authority, and no one but Jesus can encourage us with such a promise.  No one else can give us rest.
If our primary purpose in church is to connect with one another, that’s what we’ll get — one another.  And we’ll end up angry.  Only Jesus gives us rest.  If we will put him first and come to him first, then we’ll have something to give to one another.
If our primary purpose in church is outreach and mercy and justice, we’ll end up exhausted.  Only Jesus gives us rest.  If we will put him first and come to him first, we’ll be renewed for endless mission.
There are as many false and disappointing centers as there are impulses in our hearts.  Everything else will let us down.  Everything.
Only One has ever said and can ever say, “Come to me, and I will give you rest.”
His offer stands.  And we don’t have to deserve it.  He gives it.  But he does come first.

See Here for the post on his blog

The Life Changing, Christ Exalting Gospel

This quote by Andrew Peterson about the Gospel stirs my soul and makes me say AMEN!

"It’s the great, confounding reversal of the Gospel of Jesus. If the word we preach is one of attainable perfection, of law, of justification by works, then when we fail, our testimony fails with it. But if we preach our deep brokenness and Christ’s deeper healing, if we preach our inability to take a single breath but for God’s grace, then our weakness exalts him and we’re functioning as we were meant to since the foundation of the world." -Andrew Peterson, from this blog post