In working through assessment questions for church planting within the 3 Strand network, I came across this question: “What does living out the gospel look like in your own life?” I’ve found that it’s easy to throw around the word “gospel” without giving much tangible meaning to it (I am certainly guilty of this). I was thankful for the opportunity to work through the very practical nature of the gospel in my own life and wanted to share my thoughts.
Q: What does living out the gospel look like in your life?
A: It means continually getting my identity and worth from God’s grace revealed in Jesus. When I sin, I repent and trust in Jesus’ death as sufficient to keep me clean and a beloved child of God. When all is going well and I am tempted to turn my gaze from Jesus, I consider the lengths God had to go to rescue me and make me his. When life brings trials, hardships, fears, or pain, I trust in a God who left the comforts of heaven, endured beatings at the hands of those he created, and suffered death in order to make me his child. Living out the gospel means never losing sight of both the just judgment and the merciful love proclaimed through Jesus’ death on the cross. This reality keeps me from becoming proud, thinking that I can ever bring enough to God to make him love me. And it keeps me from despairing, thinking that God doesn’t have my ultimate good in mind, even when the events of life appear to say otherwise.