Two Truths and a Lie About Applying the Gospel

Two Truths and a LieChristian Growth
Written By Emily A. Jensen

So you’ve blown it. You're grumbling with a child on your hip after yelling for everyone else to quiet down and stop playing tag around the kitchen island. The chaos petered-out into a bunch of wide-eyes looking at you while your nerves returned to a state of calm. 

It’s time to apply the gospel. 

As you look below the surface, maybe you find you took on too much that morning and had a heart that wanted control and to play God. These internal desires led you to raise your voice in impatience at your children. So you repent, acknowledge you’re a sinner in need of a savior, and ask the Lord to help you move forward in righteousness. You remind yourself, that when Christ returns, this stress and sin will be no more.

Gospel applied. Everything is good. Right?

When it comes to applying the gospel is there a right way and wrong way? What expectations should we have as we live in light of the best news of all time? Let’s consider the gospel’s power for our lives and motherhood.

Truth: We Can Always Apply the Gospel

When we are “raised with Christ,” given new life through his resurrection as the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us, nothing is unaffected (1 John 2:29). We’re Christian women when we read a board book to our baby, who just wants to eat the pages. We’re Christian women when we’re in the doctor’s office, receiving news of a miscarriage. We’re Christian women when we hear a tough report from a school teacher about our child’s progress. Christian women receive and respond to all things—big and small, amazing and mundane, easy and horrific—in light of the good news of what Jesus Christ has done for them and who he’s called them to be. 

This means that no matter the circumstances, we can consider God’s design for his creation as laid-out in the Bible. We can mourn, repent, or have some understanding about life’s frustrations as we consider the fall and sins’ effects on mankind. We can rejoice and turn to Christ when we see his life and work on our behalf. We can live in light of God’s commands with the power of the Spirit in us and the guidance of God’s word. And we can be women who look to the future with hope—knowing that no matter what happens—Christ will return and make all things new. We can always apply the gospel.

Truth: The Gospel Can Change Us

All of life and motherhood is impacted by our identity and hope in Christ, and this changes us! As we remember the story of our salvation through Christ, realize what it bought us, and receive it with joy, we are changed.[1] We see this in the lives of people that Jesus encountered, including the Apostles and early converts. Murderers became evangelists. Fishermen and tax collectors became preachers. Pagans who worshiped false-gods became followers of Yaweh and suffered for Christ. It’s the application of the gospel that moment-by-moment, prayer-by-prayer, conflict-by-conflict focuses our hearts more fully on Christ.[2] As a sculptor once said about his project, “I just chip away everything that doesn’t look like an elephant.” We’re women who are being conformed to Christ and the gospel message is a main way that we’re chiseled into his image.[3]

Lie: The Gospel Immediately Solves All of Our Problems

If that intro story was familiar to you, you're not alone. It's happened over and over again in the lives of Christ-following moms around the world. Whether it’s a kitchen island or a nearby boulder, we’ve been losing our cool for millenia. In some ways, the gospel is a story of an immediate fix. After all, Christ died once for all sins.[4] We don’t have to grovel or say the “magic words” (pretty-pretty please!) to get him to forgive us. When we repent of sin and turn to him in faith, we’re justified![5] We’re righteous. It’s finished. But life after the fall and before the final return of Christ means that we will still struggle and suffer and sin. We might apply the gospel at 9:00 a.m. and then again at 9:15. We might have an ongoing struggle in our relationship with our husband or have a child with special needs that won’t necessarily be “cured” in this life. We’ll be frustrated if we think gospel application will make all of our pain go away in this life, even the pain we feel when we look at our own failures. Our Christian walk is about depending on God, rejoicing in his grace day-by-day until we die. 

Maybe you blew it right before you opened this email or clicked this link on your phone. Maybe it was this morning or maybe it will be five minutes from now. Maybe you’re processing some difficult news or you’re sad over a child’s ongoing disobedience. Whatever it is—related to sin or just the general griefs and struggles we face in life—apply the gospel again and again. It’s a normal and encouraging mark of a believer to feel grieved by our sin and repeatedly turn back to Christ. Our obedience brings glory to God, and gospel application produces growth—even if it’s slower than the tree in your backyard! God will work through his Spirit and word in your life to bring you joy in him and wisdom in your situation, even if your problems and sins aren’t magically gone. He is always with you.

[1] Romans 1:16

[2] 2 Corinthians 3:18

[3] Romans 8:29

[4] Romans 6:10

[5] Romans 5:1

Emily A. Jensen

Emily A. Jensen is an author, podcaster, and the cofounder and content director at Risen Motherhood, where she and her sister-in-law, Laura Wifler, help moms connect their faith to their everyday lives. Emily’s greatest passion is knowing Christ and making him known—in her home, her community, and to the ends of the Internet. Her book, He is Strong: Devotions for When You Feel Weak, releases October 2023.

When she’s not writing, speaking, podcasting, or encouraging women on Instagram, you can find her prepping a meal, pulling weeds, playing in the backyard with her children, or huddled up with a good book.

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