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There is no aspect of life but that the gospel has something to say
about it. The whole of life must come under its influence because it
is all inclusive; the gospel is meant to control and govern everything
in our lives. If we do not realize that, we are sooner or later to find
ourselves in an unhappy condition. So many, because they indulge in
these harmful and unscriptural dichotomies and only apply their
Christianity to certain aspects of their lives, are bound to be in trouble.
It is quite inevitable.

We must realize the greatness of the gospel, its vast eternal span.
We must dwell more on the riches, and in the riches of these great
doctrinal absolutes. We must not always stay in the gospels. We
start there but we must go on; and then as we see it all worked out
and put into its great context we shall realize what a mighty thing the
gospel is, and how the whole of our life is meant to be governed by it.
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A couple of years ago I was in a group study on the book The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges. One week the group broke up into small groups for discussion and the first question we were to answer was “How does the Gospel play a part in your day-today life?” Many things ran through my mind before it came around the circle to me–forgiveness for my sin, freedom from sin because I now have the ability to choose not to sin, my life has purpose in God’s will, I can draw near to God each day in prayer and seek Him in His Word, I have the hope of the Holy Spirit to convict me and guide me, no guilt, no fear in death. But before I got to share any of this someone had said, “I guess it doesn’t really impact the normal day-to-day stuff that much.”

This is not an uncommon perspective. If someone thinks of the gospel as a one-time thing they came to grips with in the past it has no power in their life. All too often people have a mindset of Christianity as being something they try to fit into all the aspects of their life rather than the one aspect that takes over their life. This is why people continue to struggle and be unfulfilled and unhappy Christians or maybe not even Christians at all. We cannot pick and choose what we like about the gospel. People selectively take what is convenient about salvation, giving some of their heart to the Lord, but wanting to have control of the rest themselves. Maybe people feel that they aren’t ready to surrender and really live for Christ. Christianity is to be lost to yourself and found in Christ as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come.”