Last night I found myself praying a phrase that I've prayed so many times, it felt a little stale in my mouth. And sitting there, I got thinking about something that scares me. Sometimes the familiarity of Christianity makes the gospel trite for me. How about you? Have you ever read an old passage of Scripture so many times you forgot its significance? Or sung a hymn, or prayed a phrase too many times? Has it just lost its original magnificence, the beauty and magic it held the first time you read it? I know it has for me.
We've read David and Goliath so many times that we've forgotten that the story is not about five smooth stones and a shepherd boy's courage but about a shepherd boy's God who is so glorious, powerful, and sovereign that we can do nothing but stop and revel in His majesty.
We've sung "Amazing Grace" so many times that we've forgotten that God's grace is not some nebulous thing too trivial and mystical to contemplate, but a beautiful gift so free and priceless that it was bought only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.
We've said that we need to live for God's glory so many times that we've forgotten that this doesn't mean simply affirming God's glory but dying to ourselves and our sin every day and living a worthy life to the gospel and praise of Christ.
It seems we've said, sung and prayed these things so many times, it's been too many times. And the reason it's become too many times is because we've stopped preaching the gospel to ourselves everyday. If we really, truly contemplated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ every single day, marveled in our salvation, thanked God for His grace, died to self and lived to Christ, the gospel would never become trite. Instead, the more familiar it became to us, the more we'd marvel in it. The more we heard and understood the truths of the Bible, the more we'd rejoice and wonder in them. And the more we knew the gospel, the more we'd see how crazy and amazing it really is.
So when you're feeling that the familiar is getting too familiar, go back and look through the lens of how you looked when you first saw it, read it, prayed it or sung it. See the glorious One that it points to and see how He never will become trite. See how He is the same God who slayed giants through men, who spoke and it was, who rained fire and saved from fire, who fought for His people, who saves His people, who shut lions' mouths, sends and calms the storms, forgives, raises people from the dead, never gives up on children and sent His Son on the greatest rescue mission ever. Look and marvel. The gospel cannot become trite, will not become trite. For when you look at the One who it's all about, how can it?