Bryan Loritts Evening rally on December 29th, 2013 at the Campus Outreach Milwaukee New Years Conference
For his third and final talk, Bryan Loritts explores the question: What does it look like to live a life that passionately pursues Christ? When you become a Christian by believing the Gospel, it almost seems easy at first - because you finally understand that you did nothing to save yourself. But according to Jesus’ life and teaching, we know that the Christian life will not be problem-free. Instead, living the Christian life is one marked by grace-fueled effort and discipline with the goal to finish well. What matters most to God is not how well or poor we start, but how we finish.
The passage Bryan teaches from is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, which says:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Bryan goes on to unpack a few key words in this passage to make the point that while salvation is free because of Christ, it is certainly not cheap. Jesus gave his all so that we, out of gratitude, might give our all to him. If we choose to follow Christ, God promises us that we will face trials and even suffer in this life. But we have a choice to either complain and give up when times are tough, or to stand firm in our faith and trust God in ways that we never have before. If we are convinced of these truths, God will grant us the grace to finish well.