Questions for Interpreting Your Life Through the Gospel Story
I’ll confess that there have been seasons when I’ve quietly believed my life would be better if my circumstances were different. Maybe you have too.
We can imagine that we would be more joyful, more faithful, or more useful if we were in a different season, if the pressure eased, if we had more time, more resources, fewer limitations, or simply a life that felt less ordinary. But often, the deepest problem is not our circumstances themselves. It is that we have begun to interpret them through the wrong story.
We are always making sense of our lives. We interpret disappointment, waiting, exhaustion, conflict, success, motherhood, singleness, work, ministry, aging, friendship, and the thousand ordinary moments that fill our days. And the story we believe shapes what we fear, what we desire, what we demand, and how we respond.
That is why we can sing on Sunday morning that Jesus is enough and then live on Monday as though what we really need is a different life.
The gospel does not merely encourage us in difficult circumstances. It gives us the true story through which every circumstance must be understood. God created all things good. Sin has distorted what He made. Christ has come to redeem a people for Himself. And one day, He will make all things new.
When we remember that story, even the most ordinary parts of life begin to take on their proper meaning. So instead of asking ourselves: “How do I get through this?” We could ask a better question: “What story am I using to interpret what I am living right now?”
In the latest episode of Pillar Women, we take time to rehearse the grand story of redemption in words you might already know (creation, fall, redemption, and consummation), and consider how it helps us understand the mundane, the painful, the beautiful, and the messy parts of everyday life.
Grab your headphones and listen here:
To help you put this into practice, here are some questions designed to help you bring your circumstances under the light of Scripture and see them within the larger story God has revealed.
These questions are not meant to offer a quick fix; they are meant to help you look outward and upward, to God’s character, His design, the reality of sin, the finished work of Christ, the transforming work of the Spirit, and the hope of the world to come.
Use them when you are discouraged, anxious, disappointed, tempted, confused, weary, or simply trying to understand the season God has placed you in.
You might work through all four movements or linger over the one that helps you see your situation more clearly. Write them on an index card, keep them in your Bible or journal, and return to them whenever you need help remembering what is true. Feel free to copy- paste the questions or download the ready-to-print version in English or Spanish at the bottom of the page.
Creation | What is God’s good design?
What is true about God and His design in this situation?
What good gift, desire, relationship, or responsibility has He given me?
What was I created to reflect about Him here?
What limits or circumstances am I called to receive from His hand?
What would faithfulness to His good design look like here?
Fall | What has sin broken or distorted?
What is broken in this situation because of sin?
What sin in my own heart do I need to recognize and confess?
What lie am I tempted to believe?
Has a good desire become a ruling desire?
Am I looking to something or someone for what only God can give?
Redemption | How does Christ change the way I live in this?
What is true of me because I am in Christ?
How does Christ’s finished work speak into this situation?
What do I need to repent of and believe?
How is the Spirit calling me to trust and obey?
Am I drawing near to the throne of grace, or looking elsewhere for help?
Consummation | What will Christ make new?
What about this situation makes me long for Christ’s return?
What will He one day make right?
How does the resurrection give me hope here?
What matters most in light of eternity?
What can I entrust to God as I wait for the day when He makes all things new?
You do not need a different life to live faithfully. You need to learn to see the life you have within the true story that begins with God, centers on Christ, and ends with Him making all things new.