The Cross Chart

Another tool to add to our theme this week of speaking the gospel into everyday life is The Cross Chart and the Shrinking The Cross Chart. (Taken from the Gospel-Centered Life by Thune and Walker.)

The Cross Chart highlights what a growing, gospel-centered Christian will experience as she continues to grow. Her awareness of both the depth of her sinfulness and the greatness of God’s holiness increases, as well as her need for the cross of Jesus. This amplifies her love and appreciation for Christ, and produces joyful obedience and Spirit-filled dependence to grow spiritually. She knows she needs Christ to continually fill her gap and empower her to live for Him. Instead of feeling shame or despair, she recognizes that Jesus is her righteousness and continually depends on the Holy Spirit to defeat her sinful nature.

The Shrinking The Cross Chart highlights what happens when the gospel isn’t at the center and the need for the cross isn’t increasing in a believer’s life. While our awareness of our sin and God’s holiness increases the longer we know Christ, instead of filling the gaps with Jesus, here we decide to rely on ourselves to fill the gaps by pretending and performing, legalism, shame, insecurity and despair.

Living gospel-centered lives that increase our need for the cross not only produce true spiritual fruit, but they are lives that glorify Christ with our increasing awareness of our need for Him, instead of turning to ourselves to fill the gaps. It’s all about Jesus, and seeing our need for Him more and more will cause us to worship Christ, rely on Him instead of ourselves and to point others towards Jesus, instead of human ways of minimizing our discomfort that comes from the gap that exists between our sin and God’s holiness.

We hope this Chart is a helpful tool for you and for others you may be discipling!