“The gospel isn’t the diving board into Christianity. It’s the pool itself.”
In you, Lord my God, I put my trust…Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (Psalm 25:1, 5)
Can you repeat David’s words with a straight face? “God…my hope is in you all day long.”
I know I can’t most days. That might be true in the mornings after I have spent time in the Word meditating on the hope of the gospel. But once I sit down at my desk, it often feels like my hope is in signing the next book deal, hitting the next milestone in podcast subscribers, or helping my kids get straight As at school.
These are examples of good things that you and I should be ambitious for. Done with proper motives, they are part of the “good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (see Ephesians 2:10).
But our good work can’t be the source of our hope. Why? Because the results of our work aren’t secure! I have no ultimate control over my next book deal or whether or not my kids make the honor roll. Thus, setting my ultimate hopes on these fragile things will inevitably disappoint.
This is why we can never “move past” the gospel. The temptation to place our hopes in the next promotion, acquisition, or project at work can be immense. The only antidote is to constantly preach the gospel to ourselves, reminding us that our ultimate hope is in our status as adopted children of God (see John 1:12-13).
J.D. Greear is right: “The gospel is not just the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity; it is the pool itself.” And so, we must swim in the pool of the gospel regularly.
Even if you fail to accomplish what you’ve set out to do at work today, your eternal hope of salvation is secure. You can be assured of God’s “never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.” Let this truth marinate in your heart "all day long" today.
