The Gospel in Our Everyday Lives

What does the gospel have to do with our everyday lives? Is it just something we hear and receive when we first believe in Jesus or is it something that makes a life-changing impact on every moment of every ordinary day of our lives?

(Note: Before diving in to this topic, if you are unsure of what the term “gospel” means, or would like a more in-depth look at what the gospel is, head over to this post first: What is the gospel?)

I remember when I first heard of this idea of applying the gospel to my everyday life- it was revolutionary for my faith. I was newly married and going through a book called “Respectable Sins” by Jerry Bridges with my Bible study. As we dug in to these areas of our lives that we often overlook as sins, I was overwhelmed with thankfulness for the power of the gospel. Never before had I seen my need for Jesus in such an obvious light.

I had always struggled to see the depth of my sin as I was a pretty “morally good” person, or so it appeared from the outside. But as I dug into the Word of God and all it says about the sins in my life that I tend to overlook such as impatience, irritability, anger, and pride, I saw for the first time how desperate I was for Jesus in my daily life. I also saw how much the gospel was not just a one time thing that I needed in order to begin walking with Jesus, but it was something that I needed to preach to myself every moment of everyday as I dealt with the sins that so easily entangle me. I realized how dependent I must be on meditating on the truths of the gospel and applying it to my life.

The gospel is something that needs to impact every moment of my day as I humbly run to the feet of Jesus, recognize my shortcomings before a holy God, and ask Him to work out His character in my heart and life for His glory. I am utterly dependent upon Him every moment of every day.

As the years went on and we became parents for the first time, this struggle with sin became even more evident, and I also began thinking about how the gospel applied to such mundane moments as I stayed home changing diapers all day. Surely the gospel was for greater moments than washing the dishes or taking care of scrapes and bruises.

But as I looked deeper into the Word of God on this, I realized that this is exactly where the gospel comes alive. It is in our everyday moments of life where we see our faith come to life. These moments test our trust in our Creator and draw us to a greater dependence upon Him. The daily grind of life is exactly where these “respectable sins” come to light and we see our utter dependence and need for Jesus- not just to be saved from our sin, but to daily lean on Him as our strength, our help, and our redeemer.

I started looking at the activities of my daily life through the lens of the gospel and my mind was blown with the enormity of the gospel and how it applies to every moment of every day. I began breaking up the gospel in different sections to think through how it might apply to different areas of my life. This practice helped me think through the implications that each aspect of the gospel have on this area of life.

There are many terms for looking at different aspects of the gospel, but I like to use:

Creation: Looking first at creation helps me to remember who God is and His intention as He created the world and everything in it, including us in His image to glorify and praise Him. I can see how God intended this area of life to be in His good creation (Genesis 1-2).

Fall: In Genesis 3, rebellion against God happens and it causes awful affects on every part of our lives- physically, emotionally, and spiritually. All of creation has been impacted by the fall. Looking at the affects of the fall in light of this area of life helps me to see how sin has changed things, but also propels me to the next point of redemption.

Redemption: Through Jesus, God made a way to reconcile us to Himself and restore our hearts to Him. The cross of Christ covers all aspects of life and the Spirit begins changing us to be like Christ and represent His power to the world around us. In looking at redemption, we can see how Christ is transforming these areas of life and ask for His power over our struggle with sin each day. In Christ, we can see the true power of reconciliation played out in our relationship to God and in our lives (have a look at Romans 8 & 2 Corinthians 5 for more on this!).

Restoration: The return of Christ is the future hope that we have as believers! As we look to this future where there is no more sin or death, in God’s New Creation, we can rejoice in what God will do to bring restoration to all of His creation. We can look at our life and long for the day when sin won’t affect our daily life and we will be fully free to worship God with our whole hearts every moment of every day. It also impacts our perspective and reminds us who our true, lasting hope is in (Revelation 21).

I like to break it up like this in my mind as I process because I often forget parts of God’s great story of redemption. I tend to start at the fall and my need for the grace of Jesus to redeem me. But that’s just half of the story! The story begins with our Creator making us in His image to glorify Him. And it ends with the New Creation as He restores all things in Heaven and on Earth to Himself. This is the big picture story of the gospel that we must remind ourselves each day.

As I’ve grown to look at all aspects of life through the lens of the gospel, it has shaped my heart to see my need for Jesus every hour. It has drawn me to the truth of the gospel when I impatiently deal with others in my life or as I pridefully struggling with the sin of others or as I wash the dishes with a bitter heart. In these moments, I am reminded of the great and glorious grace that has been extended to me in Christ and the hope that I have for a future without these daily struggles with sin. And then over and over again, I ask God to work in me to change my heart to be conformed to His image, to treasure Him above all things, and to grow me in godliness for HIS glory in every moment of my life.

This growth is a continual process for me, not one that I instinctly run to, but something that I have to preach to myself everyday.

Each day I have to meditate on God’s Word, the truths of the gospel, and remind myself of the goodness, grace, and mercy of God towards me.

I have to choose to put off my sin and run towards Christ for mercy, grace, and strength.

Then, I not only have to begin my day with the truths of the gospel, but as I mess up over and over again, I have to remind myself and run to Christ once more for His mercy, grace, and strength.

The process of growth in this area is where the “Gospel in Everyday” tab grew out of for this blog. In those posts, I seek to take everyday moments and look at the gospel in light of them. As I do this, I am learning right alongside you how to apply the gospel in everyday life and how to preach the gospel to myself all along the way. I’ve explored topics like “The Gospel and Motherhood“, “The Gospel and Our Heart Attitudes“, and “The Gospel and Coronavirus.” I’ve grown so much as I’ve spent time looking into the Word on these topics.

Sanctification is an all of life process, and I am so thankful that God’s mercies are new every morning and that His faithfulness is great each day (Lamentations 3:22-23). He truly gives us everything we need for life and godliness, and is sufficient for every moment of every day, both now and for all eternity.

To help you get started with this idea of meditating on the gospel throughout the day and preaching it to yourself, here are some verses to dwell on as you go about your day:

2 Corinthians 5: 17-21: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Romans 8:1-4: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Ephesians 1:7-10: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

Romans 5:8-11: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Ephesians 4: 20-24: “But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Is preaching the gospel to yourself each day a practice you are in the habit of doing? If so, what does this look like for you? How can you see God at work in the everyday moments of your life each day?