Why You Must Rethink Your Life Story In Light of the Gospel by TREVIN WAX for The Gospel Coalition
The gospel isn’t about us. It’s a message for us, yes, but it’s ultimately a royal announcement about Jesus. Even if you were never to have existed, the gospel would still be true.
It is, as we saw in the previous column, “public truth.” And as the cosmic announcement of the crucified and risen Jesus as King, this message stands at the heart of the Scriptural Story of our world.
Public Truth, Minimal Change
Still, one of the problems we face as the church in the West is that many people nod their heads and give assent to the basic facts of the gospel but then go right on living with habits that reinforce the primary story that revs them up and gives them direction, as we saw with the three characters I mentioned in the first column.
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- For Cameron, the primary story keeps him focused on the next mountain to conquer in his career path.
- For Pam, it’s the battle in Washington, D.C.
- For Greg, it’s the countdown to the next major game or movie release.
In each of these cases, the public truth of the gospel is affirmed, but it is not central in the experience of these Christians. Another story has taken center stage. The public truth is affirmed, with minimal personal implications.
Using the Gospel
What’s worse, it’s possible to use the Scriptural Story—the public truth of the gospel—as the basis for whatever primary story you prefer.
For example, it’s possible for Cameron to take hold of some of the promises of Scripture—divorced from their original context—and to claim God’s favor and Jesus’s victory as a way of propelling him forward in his career path. Every “step forward” is a sign that God is blessing his pursuits.
In Pam’s case, the truth of the gospel gets twisted into justification for all her political positions. Even in areas where the Bible is silent and where people with wisdom may come to different conclusions, Pam remains confident in her righteous cause. She may feel more emboldened in her political efforts because she sees her country (rather than the church) as God’s chosen people and her party as the primary instrument of God’s will being done. God must be on her side.
