Gospel Alarms

A few months back I was wrestling with my ongoing personal short-term memory issues. I am always forgetting the gospel. And then as a result, I live in light of this gospel-less amnesia.  This is the posture that I hate. I hate it because of how it dishonors Christ and how it robs me of joy.

In thinking I was reminded that I set alarms for everything. I remind myself to pay bills, take medicine, go to meetings, talk to certain people, etc. These are the lives and times of creating calendar events and alarms.

So I thought, “Why not create an alarm to preach the gospel to myself?”

Now each morning my alarm wakes me up to Lecrae’s Don’t Waste Your Life.  I have to shut it off manually and then I go about slumbering in the darkness to get moving. However, I have to dismiss the alarm entitled ‘Preach the Gospel to yourself’. This is great. Usually sometime between brushing my teeth and washing my face I am looking eye to eye with the guy who needs to hear the gospel most. And I preach it to him. I remind him of his wicked sin, God’s forbearing mercy, indescribable grace, perfect Savior, the brutality and success of the cross, and the truth of the empty grave.  By the end of the sermon my soul is more refreshed than my freshly brushed mouth.  And the truth of the matter is, I need it.  My sinful self-absorption characterized by a forgetfulness of the gospel is far more repugnant than morning breath.

I suggest that you do whatever you have got to do to make the priority of preaching the gospel to yourself a regular priority. We are all forgetful folks who fail to delight in the goodness of God through Christ. This forgetfulness is devastating and worth radical remedies.

Possibly Related posts:

1. Alarming Depravity
2. Gospel Quotes
3. More of Him and Less of Me
4. The Gospel is Powerful
5. Should the Gospel Make You Happy?

5 Responses to “Gospel Alarms”

1. Tweets that mention Gospel Alarms- Irish Calvinist -- Topsy.com says:

   December 1, 2009 at 5:30 pm

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Erik Raymond, The Reformed Hub. The Reformed Hub said: IRISH CALVINIST: Gospel Alarms http://bit.ly/6JmtjA [...]
2. Jerry Brown says:

   December 1, 2009 at 9:43 pm

   Not exactly to my musical taste, but I do like your point about preaching the gospel to ourselves regularly. We are forgetful people, and we need to be refreshed daily. God is faithful, and there is no downside to constantly reminding ourselves of his mercy and his grace.
3. Rob Peck says:

   December 2, 2009 at 7:41 am

   Erik,
   Thanks for this reminder!
   I was wondering as I read this if you are familiar with Milton Vincent and his book ”A Gospel Primer for Christians”. It is a great little read about living your life with the gospel always in front of you. For me it has been a great way to preach the message of the cross to myself.
   Thanks again!
   Blessings
4. Erik says:

   December 2, 2009 at 8:55 am

   Rob- I have not read that book yet but have heard great things about it. Thanks for the reminder to put it on the list.
5. Luke G says:

   December 2, 2009 at 5:22 pm

   Always encouraged…Thanks E