Tag Archives: The rest of the gospel

The line

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One of the ‘Aha!’ moments in my life was when I first understood ‘The Line’ illustration outlined in Dan Stone’s book, The Rest of the Gospel: When the partial Gospel has worn you out.”

 

Draw a horizontal line across the middle of a full sheet of paper, from left to right. Above the line, write the word “ETERNAL.” Below the line write the word “TEMPORAL.” Focus on this image for a moment. You’ve just started to draw a picture of 1 Corinthians 4:18…

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

 

There are two realms or realities in life: what we see and what we can’t see. This truth is basic to living the abundant life that Jesus promises. With our eyes we see the things which don’t last. But it takes eyes of faith to ‘see’ eternal things. the Spirit of Christ living in us reveals these so we can fix our eyes on them. Both realities are of God but we are to focus on the eternal realm.

 

Stone writes, “The distinction between the two realms is vital to us for three reasons:
1. God designed His kingdom to work ‘by faith.’
2. It helps us to understand our true identity ‘in Christ.’
3. God designed us so that we can find our greatest fulfillment only in the unseen eternal realm.

 

Pascal said we were created with a God-shaped vacuum that only He could fill. This is our true identity and how God sees us NOW as followers of Jesus: Spirit-filled, Whole, and Complete, redeemed already by the finished work of His Son on the cross. This is our Changeless, Timeless, Ultimate Reality. The eternal is the Unseen realm where the great “I AM” lives in us. Write these highlighted words above the line. Because our spirit is already aligned with the Holy Spirit, you could say “I am already there in the eternal realm, with the great “I AM” who lives in me. This is my true identity.”

 

But below the line is where we live for the moment. It is Time-Based and always Changing. We see the Appearances of things, not as they really are. We see ourselves not as complete but In Process. We perceive truth as physical Matter. We strive after Needs. Write these highlighted words below the line.

 

The ‘trap’ we face is that we are always trying to become better Christians instead of focusing on who we already are – in Christ. When our spirit is truly surrendered to the Spirit of God, we are fully redeemed and whole. This is hard for us to grasp because we look at ourselves as in process. We’ll never find abundant life by focusing our eyes on the temporary realm. And we can never perceive the eternal realm unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to us. (2 Corinthians 2:10-14)

 

Even though we know we are saved by grace, we often live like we can be made whole and sanctified by our works. Paul says it is ‘foolish’ to attempt this.

The “rest” of the gospel is in resting from trying to become who you already are in Christ and what He has already accomplished in you. It’s found in believing you are who Jesus says you are. 

 

I hope you’ll hold on to your illustration and reflect on what it says about who you already are in Christ and who He is in you. Fix your eyes on what is unseen. Live by faith.

 

 

Do you want to be a “better person”?

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Have you ever found yourself asking God to make you a better person, to help you to gradually become more and more like him? It seems an honorable thought at first blush, and yes, our life as a believer is a journey of ever-growing and maturing in Christ. But God has already provided more.

When Christ rescued us, when he paid the price for our sins on the cross, he redeemed us fully. He didn’t give us a temporary ‘salvation permit’ that we would have to someday convert to a full license to join his kingdom. He gave us his all so we would see ourselves wholly (and holy) redeemed. There is nothing we can do, no effort or achievement we can accomplish that would make us more precious in his sight than we already are. In his eyes we are already presented without blemish. We are perfectly his. Yes, he sees us in our imperfect state, but he doesn’t regard us as such. If so, Christ’s work on the cross would have been incomplete. But it isn’t; we were wholly transformed into a new creation in his eyes. Paul tells us that whoever is in Christ IS now a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come! Our job is to accept that reality and to act as if it is true (because it is). Our job is not to continually strive to become better Christians but to be the children he declares us to already be.

Dan Stone used an illustration in his book, The Rest of the Gospel, that is helpful. Take a blank sheet of paper and draw a line from left to right across the middle of the page. Under the line write words that describes how you see yourself, your physical being and your often tumultuous soul: failure, never good enough, always sinning…etc. Now above the line, write words that describe how God sees you and your spirit which is already united with his spirit: His precious child, redeemed, fully his, holy. etc. You see, if you have asked Jesus to live in your heart, he gives you his holy spirit to guide and comfort you and to tell you the truth about who you are in his sight. When you ask the spirit to fill your life and lead you, Jesus sees his spirit at work when he looks at you. Believe it and act on what you believe. You are indeed precious in his sight.

Yes, there is also a transformational process of becoming more and more like him and yes, we won’t fully achieve that until we get to heaven. But learn to see by faith who you are “above the line”. as Paul says, reckon it to be true. Continually lean into him and experience him drawing close to you.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. James 4:7-8