Four days ago, I published an article about a big hole in our home. This hole is defined as a gospel gap, the failure to connect one's understanding of the gospel to the daily challenges in life.

Allow me to continue my reading of the first chapter of Lane and Tripp's book where they explore this gospel gap or the holes that many Christians take for granted.

Nature seems to teach us that holes do not stay empty for long. They are soon filled by something whether its water, dirt, leaves or simply anything. The same thing happen in Christian life. If Christ and His gospel are not the ones that shape our lives, sooner or later, we will seek for replacements. Lane and Tripp identified some examples of these replacements.

Formalism

An example of formalism that the two authors gave is the life of a man whose schedule is full of meetings and activities. They could be a short-mission trip, volunteering to a specific social service or ministry, giving donation to a specific cause, and more. The problem with formalism said our authors is that it allows you to retain control of your life, time, and your agenda but you fail to see the seriousness of your spiritual condition and your constant need of God's grace.

Legalism

Another form of replacement is coming up with a list of dos and don'ts. The list could serve as a way to evaluate one's performance. Nothing wrong with maintaining a disciplined schedule of things to do, but when it serves as a replacement for the grace of God in Jesus, then we miss the point that it is not the things that we do on our own strength that that make us right with God.

The Search for Emotional and Spiritual Experiences

Here we find someone shifting from one emotional high to another emotional high. People like this never stay too long with one local church. He or she is searching for the excitement of extra ordinary experience. Yes, though emotion is important but one cannot reduce Christianity to a mystical experience. Instead of looking for some "big moments," most of the time God wants to know how faithful we are in the "little things" and common activities of life.

Fighting for the Right

Among the replacements enumerated by Lane and Tripp, this one hits me hard. The reason why I am in the crypto space is because I think this is where God is leading me to fight the systemic abuses that most people don't see particularly those related to finance and economics. Reading this part of the book reminds me that the gospel cannot be reduced to active participation even in a worthy cause such as economic or financial inclusion. Yes, there is evil outside of us. However, excessive focus on external or systemic evil has the tendency to undermine the evil inside of us.

Biblicism

This is surprising that even aiming for mastery of biblical content and theology can be a replacement. Usually, people that fall into this trap are pastors, church leaders, and theological educators. You can always here them speak about theological accuracy, biblical worldview, theologically consistent, and thinking like a Christian. Yes, it is good to be familiar about theology and biblical content. Nevertheless, if such knowledge is not reflected in the way we live and instead we become critical, intolerant, and proud, these are sure signals that something is missing.

Healing Emotional Wounds

This replacement is popular these days. Self-help books are very influential. Christians who see that people's problems are a long list of unmet needs, tend to see Christ more of a therapist than a Savior. Christianity is being reduced to the healing of emotional needs rather than a pursuit of godliness.

Church as a Social Club

Relationship in the local church is important. It is good to have Christian friends. It is good to participate in retreats, camping trips, and short-term missions. How about if your friends transfer to another place? Will you still attend public worship? One's response to this question determines one's true priority in life. A support group in a local church is never a replacement to an intimate communion with Christ. If this will happen, then the gospel has been reduced to a network of Christian relationships that give one identity, purpose, and meaning in life.