the insecurity of non-gospel-centeredness

June 12th, 2006

“Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons-much less secure than non-Christians, because they have too much light to rest easily under the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger. They cling desperately to legal, pharisaical righteousness, but envy, jealousy and other branches on the tree of sin grow out of their fundamental insecurity…it is often necessary to convince sinners (even sinful Christians) of the grace and love of God toward them, before we can get them to look at their problems. Then the vision of grace and the sense of God’s forgiving acceptance may actually cure most of the problems. This may account for Paul’s frequent fusing of justification and sanctification” (Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life).

6 Responses to “the insecurity of non-gospel-centeredness”

  1. Tyler Johnson Says:

    this is a great quote. thank you for sharing it.

  2. Mick Porter Says:

    Wow, that’s so true; great quote, really helpful.

  3. rwe Says:

    Dan, it’s always wonderful when you find someone who says profoundly something I have been thinking for a while. thanks for passing it along!

  4. Living Worship Says:

    [...] nder: Gospel Transformation My friend Dan Cruver posted this quote on his blog over at Eucatastrophe. I know that I have experien [...]

  5. Charlie Says:

    do you know the page numbers of this quote? It’s fantastic.
    thanks,
    Charlie

  6. dwcruv Says:

    Charlie,

    I’ll try to track it down for you. It’s in one of my book boxes that I haven’t unpacked since our move in June…

    Dan

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