Should we really “preach the gospel to ourselves”? “Preach the gospel to yourself” has become common advice in gospel-centered circles. But is it biblical and actually beneficial? Of course most Christians would automatically answer, “Yes, reminding yourself of the gospel is biblical and helpful.” But why and how is this the case?
The first half of Milton Vincent’s A Gospel Primer for Christians provides numerous answers to this question. In a rigorously biblical format, expositing the Bible in faithful, creative ways, Vincent begins his book giving 31 reasons why we should preach the gospel to ourselves. He uses 40 pages to explain them with biblical references, but I will quickly summarize the reasons here, quoting from his words. For more detail, especially the biblical references, I recommend you read his short book.
Here’s 31 reasons to remind yourself that you are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone—to preach the gospel to yourself:
- 1. It follows the New Testament pattern. “[Paul] specifically states he was eager to preach [the gospel] to believers as well…Re-preaching the gospel and then showing how it applied to life was Paul’s choice method for ministering to believers, thereby providing a divinely inspired pattern for me to follow when ministering to myself and to other believers.” (13)
- 2. It is my daily need. “It is a battle to believe the full scope of it as I should. There is simply no other way to comet with the foreboding of my conscience, the condemning of my heart, and the lies of the world and the Devil than to overwhelm such things with daily rehearsings of the gospel.” (14)
- 3. It is the power of God. “Outside of heaven, the power of God in its highest density is found inside the gospel…The Bible twice describes the gospel as ‘the power of God’…God’s power is seen in erupting volcanos…Yet in Scripture such wonders are never labeled “the power of God.” How powerful, then, must the gospel be that it would merit such a title!” (14-15)
- 4. It provides daily protection. “That God would tell me to ‘take up and ‘put on’ this gospel armor alerts me to the fact that I do not automatically come into each day protected by the gospel…I am vulnerable to defeat and injure unless I seize upon the gospel and arm myself with it from head to toe.” (16)
- 5. It transforms me by glory. “As I habitually gaze upon the glory of the Lord revealed in the gospel, I can know the actual deposits of God’s very glory are attaching themselves to my person and tranformaitng me from one level of glory to another.” (17)
- 6. It cures my distrust. “The gospel cures me of my suspicion of God.” (18, see this post on being “suspicious” of God for more on this point)
- 7. There’s sufficiency in the gospel. “It could be said that the gospel contains all that I need ‘for life and godliness.’ It is for this reason that God tells me to steadfastly entrenched in the gospel at all times and never to allow myself to be moved from there. The mere fact that God tells me to stay inside the gospel at all times must mean that He intends to supply all of my needs as long as I am abiding in that place of luxury.” (18-19)
- 8. It provides freedom from sin’s power. “[The gospel] liberates me first from [sin’s] guilt; and preaching such forgiveness to myself is a practical way of putting the gospel into operation as a nullifier of sin’s power in my life.” (19)
- 9. It allows me to rest in Christ’ righteousness. “Freedom from the burden of [maintaining my justified status before God], I now can put my energies into enjoying God, pursuing holiness, and ministering God’s amazing grace to others.” (20)
- 10. It reminds me I’m enslaved to righteousness. “When I obeyed the gospel call I was both declared righteous and ‘became a slave to righteousness’…Hence, it could be said that ‘sanctification’ is merely the lifelong process wherein I joyfully surrender myself to God’s imputed righteousness and then do whatever this righteousness directs me to do. Indeed, God has clothed me with His righteousness. Now he wants this righteousness to master me. The more I exult in the reality of my justification in Christ, the more I position myself to experience the full governing force of its sanctifying power in my life.” (21-22)
- 11. It allows me to better love my brothers and sisters. “By preaching the gospel to myself each day, I nurture the bond that unites me with my brothers and sister for whom Christ died, and I also keep myself well-versed in the raw materials with which I may actively love them in Christ.” (23)
- 12. It makes me value my inheritance in the saints. “We are significant players in each other’s gospel narrative, and it is in relationship with one another that we experience the fullness of God in Christ. Hence, the more I comprehend the full scope of the gospel, the more I value the church for which Christ died, the more I value the role that I play in the lives of my fellow-Cristians, and the more I appreciate the role that they must be allowed to play in mine.” (24)
- 13. It stimulates me to love others. “I am always willing to show love to others when I am freshly mindful of the love that God has shown me.” (24)
- 14. It gives me a heart for the lost. “The more I rehearse and exult in gospel truths, the more there develops within me a corresponding burden for non-Christian to enter into such blessings.” (25)
- 15. It cultivates humility. “Preaching the gospel to myself each day mounts a powerful assault against my pride and serve to establish humility in its place.” (27)
- 16. It produces obedience borne of love. “Preaching the gospel to myself is a great way to keep God’s amazing love before my eyes, so that I might experience its power to produce in my a passionate love for Him in return. Captured by His love in this way, my smitten heart increasingly burns to do His will and feasts on doing so.” (29)
- 17. It liberates me from self-love. “Compared to greater endeavors, self-love is mundane and tiresome. Consequently, the more thoroughly I can be done with such tedium, the freer my soul will be to soar at its God-intended heights…Preaching the gospel to myself every day reminds me of God’s astounding love for me and also of HIs infinite worthiness to be loved by me above all else. These reminders deliver a one-two punch to my innate self-absorption and leave me increasingly absorbed with Christ and with God’s ultimate plan to gather together all heavenly and earthly things in Him.” (29-31)
- 18. It provides me perspective in trials. “Preaching the gospel to myself each day provides a lens through which I can view my trials [for my good to be conformed to the image of Christ] and see the true cause for rejoicing that exists in them. I can then embrace trials as friends and allow them to do God’s good work in me.” (32)
- 19. It lifts me up as I further comprehend my sinfulness. “The deeper I go into the gospel, the more I comprehend and confess aloud the depth of my sinfulness…Such an awareness of my sinfulness does not drag me down, but actually serves to lift me up by magnifying my appreciate of God’s forgiving grace in my life…[and] the more I love Him and delight to show Him love through heart-felt expressions of worship.” (33)
- 20. It opens me up to be more honest to others about sin in my life. “The most humiliating gossip that could ever be whispered about me is blared from Golgotha’s hill; and my self-righteous reputation is left in ruins in the wake of its revelations…Thankfully, the more exposed I see that I am by the Cross, the more I find myself opening up to others about ongoing issues of sin in my life.” (34)
- 21. It reminds me I was chosen to pray. “As a chosen one of God, I was saved to pray…’Draw near’…’Pray without ceasing’…How can I not feel the infinite sincerity of these invitations, especially when considering the painful lengths that God endures so that I might enter His presence in prayer?” (35-36)
- 22. It reminds me of the good works I was saved to perform. “Preaching the gospel to myself each day not only remind me of the love of God for me, but it also reminds me of the love of God for the works which He has saved me to perform. When I see the Cross, I see the premium that God places on the works that He has prepared for me. How valuable all of these works must be if Christ would die so that I might now perform them!” (38)
- 23. It stirs in me a heart for the poor. “The gospel reminds me daily of the spiritual poverty into which I was born and also of the staggering generosity of Christ towards me. Such reminders instill in me both a felt connection to the poor and a desire to show them the same generosity that has been lavished on me.” (39)
- 24. It allows me to embrace my crucifixion. “God is committed to my dying every day…’Not My will, but Yours be done,’ Christ trustingly prayed on the eve of His crucifixion; and preaching His story to myself each day puts me in a frame of mind to trust God and embrace the cross of my own dying also.” (40-41)
- 25. It allows me to embrace my resurrection life. “The more I contemplate the gospel, the more I understand that this ‘word of the cross’ stands as a blueprint for my own life story. The death that Christ died is the death to which I also am called, and the death to which I cam called is my entry point to union with Christ and life at is fullest.” (43)
- 26. It develops within me a yearning for heaven. “The more I experience the riches of Christ in the gospel, the more there develops within me a yearning to be with Christ in heaven where I will experience His grace in unhindered fullness. The reason for this yearning is simple: however great may be the present blessings of salvation, they are but the ‘first fruits of the Spirit,’ the first installments of an unimaginably great harvest of glory which I will reap forever in heaven.” (43)
- 27. It helps me mortify the flesh with Christ’s fullness. “As I perpetually feast on Christ and all of His blessings found in the gospel, I find that my hunger for sin diminishes and the lies of lust simply lose their appeal. Hence, to the degree that I am full, I am free.” (46)
- 28. It makes me more thankful in relief. “The more absorbed I am in the gospel, the more grateful I become in the midst of my circumstances, whatever they may be…When I look at any circumstances that God apportions me, I am first grateful for the wrath I am not receiving in that moment…Second, I am grateful for the blessings that are given to me instead of His wrath…Such a gospel-centered gratitude glorifies God, contributes to peace of mind, and keeps my foot from the path of foolishness and ruin.” (47-48)
- 29. It focuses me on the ultimate prize, the Giver. “As I meditate on the gospel each day, I find my thoughts inevitably traveling from the gifts I’ve received to the Giver of those gifts; and the more my thoughts are directed to Him, the more I experience the essence of eternal life…It is in Him that my soul finds its truest joy and rest.” (50)
- 30. It grants me boldness to love and live for God. “If I want my life to bloom full and loom large for the glory of God, then I must have boldness — and nothing so nourishes boldness in me like the gospel!…Preaching the gospel to myself each day nourishes within me a holy brazenness to believe what God says, enjoy what He offers, and do what He commands.” (51-52)
- 31. It leads me to yearn more to glorify God in all I say and do. “Clearly, the gospel generated in Paul an enormous passion for God’s glory; and the gspel does the same in me as I make it the meditation of my heart each day…Indeed, the more I embrace and experience the gospel, the more I delight in the worship of God, the more expressive my joy in Him becomes, and the more I year to glorify Him in all I say and do.” (53-54)
This is a rich supply of biblical motives to preach the gospel to ourselves—to each and every day meditate more on God’s mercy, grace, and love revealed in the life, death, resurrection, and return of Jesus. For Christ’s glory and our joy, may we continually remind ourselves of this glorious gospel.
