On our flight home from our honeymoon, I started reading Barbara Hughes’ The Disciplines of a Godly Woman. The first discipline Hughes discusses is the discipline of the gospel.
It’s an interesting idea–that the gospel can be a discipline, that we can discipline ourselves to live out of the gospel.
But more than an interesting idea, it’s a frustrating idea.
How can I discipline myself in the gospel? It’s not like reading the Bible or going to church. It’s not something I can schedule into my day or week.
Or can I?
I tried an experiment. I set a reminder on my phone.
“Remember the Gospel,” it says.
The task pops up one hour after I last marked it complete, so about every hour during my waking hours, I am reminded of the gospel.
But is this effective?
Does this really help me remember the gospel? Does it help me remember more than just the word “Gospel” but the reality that the word represents?
I gave myself limits.
I couldn’t clear the reminder, couldn’t say I’d completed the task, until I’d actually thought about the gospel–about the reality of the gospel.
It’s become almost a game, thinking of new aspects of the gospel to contemplate.
One hour, I recite a verse about the gospel.
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (I Timothy 1:15 ESV)
Another hour, I reflect on what the gospel accomplished.
Redemption. Adoption. Justification.
Yet another hour, I try to paraphrase the gospel as I might share it with an unbeliever.
We are all sinners, deserving God’s wrath and incapable of paying our sin-debt. But God loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus, who bore God’s wrath in our place, dying on a cross so we wouldn’t have to die for our sins. Now He offers salvation to everyone who believes in Jesus’ name.
These are just scratching the surface of the gospel.
I ask myself what the gospel displays about God’s character.
Holiness. Grace. Justice. Love. Sovereignty over death.
I ask myself what the practical implications of the gospel are to my work life.
Forgiven, I must forgive. Loved despite my filthiness, I must love my clients despite their occasional crassness. Having received mercy, I must extend mercy.
As I review the ways I have been reminding myself of the gospel, I think of some more to use in the upcoming hours.
What are some stories in Scripture that exhibit the gospel? Who can I pray for who needs the gospel? What are wrong views of the gospel and what is the truth that exposes them? In what ways should the gospel influence my thoughts, my words, my actions, my writing?
Hour by hour, I discipline myself in the gospel.
How do you discipline yourself in the gospel?
When I think of living the gospel, I think “am I trusting in Jesus in what I am doing today, or am I trusting myself – my own wisdom, my own strength, my own ability to be good enough?”