We have so many choices each day.  Some are simple: Do I want salad or a PBJ for lunch? Other decisions sound simple but are really much more complex.

For instance…

The decision to rest in the gospel…or resist it.  To move from wasteland to graceland thinking and living.

The decision we make there determines whether we live like a child of God or like an orphan.

How many times a day do you encounter this decision?

For me, I’m convinced I’m making a decision either way multiple times each hour of the day.

In Craving Grace, Ruthie Delk speaks of how living like a child of God is, “as easy and as hard as remembering the gospel.”

How easy…or hard is it…for you to remember the gospel?

I found something that has helped me to see the map to the gospel more easily each day.  It is an illustration called “The Gospel Eight” which can be found in Ruthie Delk’s book, Craving Grace.  I referenced this book and the author in  my last post and promised I’d share more…

Here is the illustration*:

You can link to Ruthie Delk’s website and more information on her delightful book by clicking on the illustration.

I was given this book at the Fuel 2014 conference in Orlando last month.  Before I had the chance to read the first chapter, I  was headed to the session to hear her speak. After hearing the explanation and looking at the diagram for an hour, it was (hopefully) permanently planted in my mind.  Ever since, this illustration seems to be constantly before me calling me to choose to live like a child of God vs. an orphan.  You can read about others who have had the same experience by visiting her website.

How I’d love to write about this illustration, but I really think Ruthie’s words will serve you the best.  These words are taken from her own website for her book, Craving Grace.  Here you can find the following quick overview of the Gospel Eight, PDFs of some great resources and a seven minute video presentation. Enjoy and be blessed…

“The Gospel Eight diagram reflects what the process of repenting and believing looks like in our lives. This is a fluid process, and so you will notice little arrows that indicate movement around the diagram. These arrows represent God’s grace and His relentless pursuit of us. You will also notice that, no matter where you might be “standing” in this diagram, His grace is always propelling you, moving you back into relationship with Him.

Looking at the diagram, you can see there really is no beginning and no end. Since it’s a cycle and a process, anywhere you start will be “jumping in midstream.” But we have to start somewhere, so let’s begin with the top part of the diagram that reflects the ideal of a believer’s relationship with God as Father. As Christians, we enjoy all the spiritual blessings offered to us in the gospel. As His children, our identity is based on who He is, not who we are. Secure in the Father’s love, we delight in sharing with others and inviting them to join the journey. The diagram has no beginning and no end; it’s a cycle and a process.”

Even as His children, we fail. If I’m honest, I know I’m constantly confronted with my sin. Like a mirror, God uses His Word, the Holy Spirit, and the community of believers to expose my unbelief and sin.”

The intersection of the two circles reflects the choice where we decide what we will do with the growing awareness of our sin and the accompanying pain it brings. How will I respond? I can repent and run to the cross, or I can resist and turn away from the cross.

“In repentance I an restored to an intimate fellowship with God. Some have referred to this top portion of the diagram as the Cycle of Faith—a repetitive cycle of repenting and believing, repenting and believing. This is preaching the gospel to yourself.

Oh, if only it were this easy! Unfortunately, my heart is easily derailed. Perhaps Satan plants a seed of doubt large enough to make me suspicious of God and His intentions for me. Or maybe I simply mistrust God’s plan. Or maybe I just feel like I’m not really that bad. For whatever reason, I convince myself I can handle my sin and my pain on my own and don’t really need Him.

Although I am aware of my sin and brokenness, I bypass the cross, resist repentance, and instead head down a path of false repentance that leads me away from God (and into the bottom circle of the diagram).

On this downward path, I develop clever schemes to “manage my sin.” From the outside, managing my sin can look like repentance, but it’s not. It’s false repentance.”

False repentance is looking to something else to take away the pain of my sin.

“I might do this by blame-shifting, beating myself up, denying my sin, minimizing my sin, or trying to “fix it” on my own by self-effort and trying harder. But all of these lead me further away from God. I feel more and more isolated and separated from Him. I end up living a life more characteristic of a spiritual orphan than God’s child.1

Instead of finding my identity in Christ and what He has done for me, as in the top circle, my identity as a spiritual orphan is defined by my pain, my past, and my circumstances.”

Living and thinking like an orphan robs me of hope, freedom, acceptance, and joy. It leaves me with precisely the life Satan would have me live—one that is disconnected from Christ and that feels spiritually sterile and wearisome.

“As a result, since I’ve rejected the righteousness that Christ has given me, I strive to establish my own (like the Israelites, Romans 10:3). I do this by propping myself up with anything that gives me value and fulfills my need for acceptance. The Bible calls these things idols.

Idols are a cheap substitute for Christ. They may work for a little while, but they all disappoint in the end. At some point I realize these idols don’t deliver and are actually sucking the life out of me. They are driving me further from Christ and the life He intended. Once again, like a mirror, God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and the community of faith help me realize my brokenness and my need for a Savior.

Now I face the same choice. I can run to the cross and be restored through repentance and faith, or I can resist the cross and continue managing my sin on my own, living like an orphan, and settling for cheap substitutes instead of the real thing.

This cycle is repeated, over and over, in my life as a Christian. As I am confronted with my sin, I can run to the cross, repent, and believe the gospel, or I can resist the cross and live like a spiritual orphan.

A Christian’s position as a child of God doesn’t change. All of us experience ups and downs in the cycle of faith. There will be times when my faith is strong, repentance is real, and I live more in the reality of who I am as His child. Then there will be times when my faith is weak, my heart not convinced that He loves me, and I will live as if I were a spiritual orphan.

Those who have not yet asked Christ to forgive their sins are doomed to spin around in the bottom circle, desperately seeking ways to manage their pain and brokenness. They crave acceptance and fulfillment but seek it in what the world has to offer instead of finding it in the grace and faith offered through the cross.

This diagram shows both the believer and the nonbeliever that the solution to our despair is the same: we both need to run to the cross and put our faith and trust in what Jesus has already done for us.

I hope that as God makes the gospel even more real in your life, this diagram will give you away to share what you are learning with others and that God will use it in your own life to shorten the gap between your head and your heart!”

*My own personal note to clarify the diagram: If we are in Christ, Christ has paid the penalty for all of our sins. We no longer carry the burden of needing to pay for our sins.  If you’re in Christ, burdens on the back of the “orphan” in this diagram are the burden of living like an orphan that make our lives miserable as children of God (resisting the gospel, God’s truths and turning toward false god’s and actions of false repentance).

*I have been given permission to use this illustration on my blog.

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