Letting Three Words Define You
If we were having a sit-down conversation and you asked what defines me as a Christian, pastor, husband, and father, I would answer with three words: It is finished. What I do, how I live, and who I am are defined by those words. I don’t have them tattooed on my body, as perhaps some cage-stage Calvinist would, but these three words make me up as a person and disciple. I wouldn’t have it any other way. My daily prayer is that God would, by his grace, take me deeper into the truths of the gospel. I have a fervent desire to get the grace of the gospel deeply. I want the gospel to inform not only the ministry God has called me to, but also my whole life—every single part of it.
To put it simply, I want to be man who has been with God. These desires are not the result of gospel-centered literature and publications, although they have had a profound impact on my understanding and grasp of grace. No, these desires are the result of a realization–a realization of a downward trajectory. What do I mean?
A downward trajectory occurs when a Christian has had what I call a “gospel moment.” A gospel moment happens when the gospel makes its way from your head to your heart. A downward trajectory is when your view of self goes down while your view of God goes up. While God takes you deeper into the gospel, your estimation of self goes down. It is the pathway to knowing who you truly are–it is getting to know God’s view of you.
My desire to be defined by the three words comes from my love of the gospel. There are layers to this love. Underneath my love for the gospel is gratitude for what God has achieved for me in Christ. Just below gratitude is the grasp of grace.Love for the gospel would be non-existent if I wasn’t grateful for Christ’s sacrifice for me; love and gratitude would be non-existent if I was ignorant of grace, for grace inspires gratitude and gives birth to love.
Grace teaches me that I received something good in place of something bad–that I should deserve God’s displeasure, but instead received his favor–that I merit wrath, but instead received righteousness. This makes grace amazing. Truly amazing. Grace teaches me that I am a passive recipient of the greatest gift ever. Grace teaches me the overwhelming truth that when Christ hung on the cross, God looked on him and saw me.
But it doesn’t end there. Grace also teaches me that as God looks on me, he now sees Jesus—his righteousness and goodness. “It is finished,” that is what defines me, and yet I live with this fervent desire to grow into this even more. While this defines me, I don’t always live as though it does. I know that in those three words I have everything I need that pertains to life and godliness, that I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, that I am more approved, accepted, affirmed, and loved beyond what I can ever grasp, but I don’t always live as if this were true.
The proof lay in the fact that I sin. This is not the gospel’s fault, nor does it stem from a lack of power on the gospel’s part, this comes from a lack of preaching the gospel to myself at times. You see, I want you to like me, to affirm me, accept me, and approve of me. I want to be the best pastoral counselor and preacher. This may sound like innocent aspirations, but they are dark feelings coming from dark places. I can easily make your affirmation of me the main thing–the thing that fuels my ministry. I can easily turn the good thing of approval into a god thing.
I can slip into idolatry and you would never know it. Yes, I am prone to idolatry. My heart is on this incessant quest to remove God from his rightful place and supplant him with a cheap substitute. Why? Because my heart exercises a particular proclivity to choose the false security of an idol over the truth of the gospel. My idols are skilled at swindling me into believing that if I have x thing I’ll matter and be happy. All the while the gospel is preaching the truth that in Christ I have it all. I am not a double-minded man, I am simply speaking as one who is simul justus et peccator, one who is at the same time righteous and sinner.
It is no secret that there is a little prodigal in all of us. We have this remarkable tendency to be extravagantly wasteful with the resources God gives us. We demonstrate this uncanny ability to be wayward because we have failed to preach the gospel to ourselves and resisted the "It is finished" of the cross to define us.
We treat sin as if it is another type of control, as something we can manage, and interestingly, we treat grace the same way. But we can’t. Sin ceases to exist if there is no sinner. The problem has never been sin, the problem is sinner man—you and I. Grace can’t be managed any more than sin can. Grace wrestles control from our hands. You can’t control or manage grace–it is scandalous, wild, and untamable.
I want grace to have free rein in my heart and life. I want the gospel to inform all I do and say because I know that gospel in the heart translates into gospel on the tongue. I want my passion for the gospel to have purpose. I want it to materialize into me leading well, ministering well, guiding well, and loving well. The gospel is a proclamation, but it is also personal. Christ died, that would simply be history. Christ died for me, that is personal–that's the gospel. The three words would mean nothing if it were not directed toward me or any of us. They are unabashedly personal. For that I am grateful.
To put it simply, I want to be man who has been with God. These desires are not the result of gospel-centered literature and publications, although they have had a profound impact on my understanding and grasp of grace. No, these desires are the result of a realization–a realization of a downward trajectory. What do I mean?
A downward trajectory occurs when a Christian has had what I call a “gospel moment.” A gospel moment happens when the gospel makes its way from your head to your heart. A downward trajectory is when your view of self goes down while your view of God goes up. While God takes you deeper into the gospel, your estimation of self goes down. It is the pathway to knowing who you truly are–it is getting to know God’s view of you.
My desire to be defined by the three words comes from my love of the gospel. There are layers to this love. Underneath my love for the gospel is gratitude for what God has achieved for me in Christ. Just below gratitude is the grasp of grace.Love for the gospel would be non-existent if I wasn’t grateful for Christ’s sacrifice for me; love and gratitude would be non-existent if I was ignorant of grace, for grace inspires gratitude and gives birth to love.
Grace teaches me that I received something good in place of something bad–that I should deserve God’s displeasure, but instead received his favor–that I merit wrath, but instead received righteousness. This makes grace amazing. Truly amazing. Grace teaches me that I am a passive recipient of the greatest gift ever. Grace teaches me the overwhelming truth that when Christ hung on the cross, God looked on him and saw me.
But it doesn’t end there. Grace also teaches me that as God looks on me, he now sees Jesus—his righteousness and goodness. “It is finished,” that is what defines me, and yet I live with this fervent desire to grow into this even more. While this defines me, I don’t always live as though it does. I know that in those three words I have everything I need that pertains to life and godliness, that I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, that I am more approved, accepted, affirmed, and loved beyond what I can ever grasp, but I don’t always live as if this were true.
The proof lay in the fact that I sin. This is not the gospel’s fault, nor does it stem from a lack of power on the gospel’s part, this comes from a lack of preaching the gospel to myself at times. You see, I want you to like me, to affirm me, accept me, and approve of me. I want to be the best pastoral counselor and preacher. This may sound like innocent aspirations, but they are dark feelings coming from dark places. I can easily make your affirmation of me the main thing–the thing that fuels my ministry. I can easily turn the good thing of approval into a god thing.
I can slip into idolatry and you would never know it. Yes, I am prone to idolatry. My heart is on this incessant quest to remove God from his rightful place and supplant him with a cheap substitute. Why? Because my heart exercises a particular proclivity to choose the false security of an idol over the truth of the gospel. My idols are skilled at swindling me into believing that if I have x thing I’ll matter and be happy. All the while the gospel is preaching the truth that in Christ I have it all. I am not a double-minded man, I am simply speaking as one who is simul justus et peccator, one who is at the same time righteous and sinner.
It is no secret that there is a little prodigal in all of us. We have this remarkable tendency to be extravagantly wasteful with the resources God gives us. We demonstrate this uncanny ability to be wayward because we have failed to preach the gospel to ourselves and resisted the "It is finished" of the cross to define us.
We treat sin as if it is another type of control, as something we can manage, and interestingly, we treat grace the same way. But we can’t. Sin ceases to exist if there is no sinner. The problem has never been sin, the problem is sinner man—you and I. Grace can’t be managed any more than sin can. Grace wrestles control from our hands. You can’t control or manage grace–it is scandalous, wild, and untamable.
I want grace to have free rein in my heart and life. I want the gospel to inform all I do and say because I know that gospel in the heart translates into gospel on the tongue. I want my passion for the gospel to have purpose. I want it to materialize into me leading well, ministering well, guiding well, and loving well. The gospel is a proclamation, but it is also personal. Christ died, that would simply be history. Christ died for me, that is personal–that's the gospel. The three words would mean nothing if it were not directed toward me or any of us. They are unabashedly personal. For that I am grateful.
Rev. Mike Hernandez serves as the senior pastor of Crossroads Presbyterian Church. He is a graduate of Trinity International University (B.A.), Knox Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) at Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando.
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