We recently defined the gospel like this; “Through the finished work of Christ on the Cross, our inclusion in the life that Jesus lives, and the favor that He lives under.” Paul referred to the gospel as the “Gospel of grace.” It is amazing to me how much Christians have restricted how big the grace of God is. Our place in Christ, the life He lives and the favor that He lives under, has absolutely nothing to do with what you earned or deserved. It is our inheritance in Christ because of what He earned and what He deserves. If you really believe that the gospel is this big and the possibilities of the life that we are called to abide in is this enormous, then there are three important principles that you have to adhere to.
First, fascination has to drive you to pursue. What I mean by that is that your heart has to be captivated with a driving fascination to discover and experientially manifest all that this “life more abundant in Christ” offers you. You can be the wealthiest person that has ever lived, but if you don’t know how much wealth you have or how to access it, then it does you no good whatsoever. All the spiritual disciplines, like prayer and fasting, are not ways to earn favor. Jesus has already earned that position for you. You, at this moment, regardless of what your day or week has been like, are in Him seated in heavenly places. You can’t get any closer to God than that. What you can do, from that position, that place of intimacy in Christ, is to relentlessly pursue the discovery of all that is yours so that you live with an uninterrupted consciousness of all that Jesus has and all that Jesus is, uninterruptedly drawing from ALL. Colossians 3:1-4 tells us that, in light of the fact that Christ is now our life and that we are raised up in Him in the heavenly places, we should continually seek those things which are above so that we can continually set our mind and emotions on the things above and not on the things of the earth.
The second imperative principle is to remember that the Christian life is a life of faith. Very simply put, what we discover, we have to partake of; and what we partake of, He undertakes. If the gospel is our inclusion into the life that Jesus lives and the favor that He lives under, then how much favor does He live under? What does that favor look like? Maybe a better word would be “accept”. Accept what He has accomplished for you. What is He able to do? What does He have faith for? Whatever that might be, claim it as yours. I know this might sound wild and seem too big, and, therefore, hard to believe, but that is the nature of the gospel. The ancient Greek word “gospel” was not used very often because it spoke of an announcement about the good news of a victory that was so big and so important that it was a rare occurrence, and therefore the word was used just for those special moments. The greatest victory in human history happened at the cross on our behalf. Go for it. Dare to be stretched by the possibilities. Faith sees and then takes, and when we take by faith what we see, He undertakes the manifestation.
The third unconditional principle that must govern our pursuit and our faith is that, no matter what happens, we will worship Him in the darkness without demanding explanations from Him. If this isn’t foundationally what you’re committed to in your walk with the Lord, then the warfare and occasional confusion, because of the things you don’t understand, will cause you to back off in your pursuit. The pounding questions will overwhelm the daring journey that you are called to take. The Christian life is for passionate participants, not spectators. Pain must be a platform that elevates your praise and not the excuse to cultivate pessimism. God is never on trial, but sometimes faith is. He has called us and wired us to live as ascended ones. The enemy hates that and fights to make believers live as cynical ones. After 24 years of not willing to risk all on faith, but instead trying to help God to fulfill God’s promises to him, Abraham finally believed that God was able to do the miraculous. Even though he was too old to impregnate Sarah and that she who had been barren all of her life was also too old, we are told in Romans 4:20 that “with respect to the promise of God he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.” In times of darkness, if we will simply give glory to God instead of fading into cynicism and paralyzing passivity, we will actually grow strong in faith even though the darkness seems to say to us that faith hasn’t been fruitful. Make sure disappointments are divine appointments to encounter Him in worship and praise.