My journey with this book began in high school, when my youth pastor used it to disciple me and another young man from the youth group. Although I was a good kid and active in church, at that point in my life I was not overly concerned about developing a deep relationship with Christ. So, the book did not sink into my thinking in a substantial way at the time.

Years later, as a pastor I began to wrestle with how to teach people how to grow in their sanctification. Sanctification refers to the process of spiritual growth as we become less like our sinful selves and more like Christ. It is something all Christians know is important, yet transferring the desire into action can be challenging.

One day, I picked up a book I was given at a pastor’s conference called No Quick Fix. This book critiques several approaches to sanctification that are not grounded in Scripture. Although it helped identify how not to approach sanctification, it did not teach how one should pursue it. Thankfully, the author supplied an appendix that listed books that taught the proper approach to the process of sanctification. The Discipline of Grace headlined this list. I bought it, devoured its content, and have been recommending it ever since. It is the most useful book I know on the subject.

What makes The Discipline of Grace such a masterpiece is how it captures the principle of Philippians 2:12-13 so well. Those verses tell us to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Sanctification is a work of God’s grace done in us by His Spirit through His word; yet we must engage in the process if we are to see growth. Sanctification involves the willful engagement of both God and man. We are to work out (exercise) our salvation because God is working His gracious purposes within us.

The message of the book is captures in Bridges’ now famous phrase preach the gospel to yourself every day. The book hinges on this concept. Preaching the gospel to ourselves daily does two things. First, it reminds us when we have sinned that Jesus has already dealt with it on the cross. Therefore, we need not be weighed down with an undo sense of guilt, for Jesus bore our sin in His body on the cross. Yet in preaching the gospel to ourselves does a second thing as well. It reminds us that Jesus bore our sins on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). He delivered us, not only from sin’s consequence, but also from sin’s enslaving power. Yes, it remains a strong foe, but it is a defeated foe. This motivates and empowers us to overcome sin through the means of grace God gives us.

After explaining what it means for us to work out our own salvation by engaging in the process, Bridges moves on to explain in practical terms, the various spiritual disciplines God calls us to exercise in the pursuit of His holiness and usefulness in His service.

I have read The Discipline of Grace four times now. There is no other book, other than the bible, that I have read more. I cannot recommend it to you enough.