In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery, and named U.S. Army Captain Meriwether Lewis its leader. Lewis then selected William Clark as his partner. Their journey would take an arduous two years and would go up the Mississippi River, then west across the Continental Divide, eventually all the way to the west coast.

According to Jefferson himself, one goal was to find “the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.” Jefferson asked for the expedition to explore the land the United States had acquired during the Louisiana Purchase, land that was officially part of the country but had yet to be fully explored and evaluated.

In other words, Lewis and Clark were laying claim to what had already been claimed. They were “discovering” what had already been “acquired.”

Such is the case with the gospel.

If you’re a Christian, Jesus has purchased your heart and soul. He has planted the flag on your life and declared it to be His territory. There is, then, from your east coast to your west, top to bottom, no part that is not owned under the lordship and authority of Christ.

It is acquired but not discovered. It has been claimed but now must be laid claim to. So the question for you and I is whether or not the gospel is taking more and more territory in your heart. It’s not that there is an area of your heart that hasn’t yet been claimed; Jesus has done that once and for all. What’s happening now is the exploration and discovery of the fullness of His claim.

These nooks and crannies of our soul must be explored. They must be researched and discovered. And in each one, the flag of the gospel must be planted as we claim that which Christ has already claimed. We apply the gospel, day in and day out, to all of these areas of our life in order to actualize the reality of the ownership and authority of Jesus.