Reflections of a Princess: ... the musing and meanderings of a daughter of the King ...

Recently, I was meeting with some ladies from church and we were sharing our testimonies. After a while I got to thinking about mine. One thing I almost always say is how I looked around at the Christians I knew and (most) of their lives didn’t match up to what I read in the Bible. Not that they weren’t good people, loving and following after God. But there was something missing.

There was little life change. Joy was lacking. Passion was empty. It was as if I saw people who had common beliefs and enjoyed spending time together, but it seemed the Gospel did little to really change their lives in the day-to-day. If Jesus’s claims are real there has to be–must be–gospel change.

At that point in my life (between 18 and 19), I was coming to the point where I realized I was living my life more as a moral person than a Christ follower. Yes, I’ll admit it I was the goody-goody. I didn’t drink, smoke, or go around kissing boys. But as I looked at my life I knew being moral and just believing God is and did what he said wasn’t enough–even the demons believe that!

I had a decision to make: Was I just going to be a moral person or was I going to delve into this Jesus I had committed my life to?

There had to be more to being a Christian than what I saw. If Jesus is and was who he said he was there’s got to be something more. There was a lack of “This is the Gospel and it has radically changed my life. It’s not only saved me from hell, but it saves me every day.”

Why are many Christians “ineffective and unproductive”? [...] they are nearsighted and blind, having forgotten that they have been cleansed from their past sins (2 Peter 1:9). They are blind to the power and hope of the gospel for today. [...]

People need to see that the gospel belongs in their workplace, their kitchen, their school, their bedroom, their backyard, and their van. They need to see the way the gospel makes a connection between what they are doing and what God is doing. They need to understand that their life stories are being lived out within God’s larger story so that they can learn to live each day with a gospel mentality.

Paul Tripp, How People Change (3-4)

As I’ve grown in my walk with the Lord one thing I am continually realizing in greater depth is just how deep the Gospel is–the good news that Jesus paid the penalty for my sins and rose from the dead. It’s more than “fire insurance,” as some say. It’s living, breathing, real life. It should be wrapped around our every breath and action. It is saving grace, moment by moment. Every struggle, every fear, every frustration, every tear, every insecurity are all met in the Cross. It is the power of life.

And yet so often we regulate it to Sunday morning, quiet times, and tragedy. We need it every day. Hour by hour, minute by minute. If there is one thing I could tell the church it would be to appropriate the Gospel into your life…in every need. Because apart from Christ we fail and we’ll fall…hard.