If you remember, starting last week and for the next few, we are taking a look at Story. I didn’t say stories but singular - stories. God’s Story to be more clear. We pause these words for a bit of geek time.
In the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, one Story is broken into three distinct sections. The Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, and The Return of the King. (You purists who go to the book, forgive me, I am focused on the movies here). One of the best parts of these flicks is that they are set up as one continual Story.
Okay, I am Back from geek-land. When I read and see the Bible, this is how I see it; a single story is being told, no matter how many chapters, characters, books, or pages. This single Story has plot twists. People turning on the creator, a man becomes the father of a nation, kings giving up their prestige, the confusion of languages, a giant flood, shepherds killing giants, virgins giving birth, and the CREATOR entering time and space to redeem, by paying the penalty of sin with his own life. If that was not enough, there is that whole rescue plan expanding across the world, the Holy Spirit of God living inside the image-bearing, sin crippled people, the Church, and it is not as if the world waited in silent anticipation for the stone to roll away. A dead redeemer comes to life again. If it were not for the book (Bible), where future scenes of the Story unfold, we sometimes struggle with knowing who wins and that we eventually return to the living and physical presence of God and people, like the Story began.
This matters today because the Bible as a single story where Jesus is the hero is much more powerful to impact our lives and faith than a scattered and frantic approach that scratches out a meaning or blessing to get us through the day.
The Bible as a single story, where Jesus is the hero, shows me a God who had a plan before he even created.
The Bible as a single story, where Jesus is the hero, reveals that God is NEVER the underdog, behind in the score and his intended outcome in doubt.
The Bible as a single story, where Jesus is the hero, confirms the greatness and power of God. To me, the Sovereignty of God takes on so much more significant meaning than being reduced to who is in and who is out by placing a spotlight on Jesus and his efforts to destroy the works of Satan.
The Bible as a single story where Jesus is the hero is how I find comfort in God amid injustice and cruelness by people to other people. The Bible as a single story where Jesus is the hero is where I discover he indeed has a plan and can be trusted fully. The Bible as a single story where Jesus is the hero magnifies the love and glory of God to the highest of heights, yet makes him so personal and real.
The Bible, as a single story, where Jesus is the hero, is where the two most gracious invitations of God take on the grandest meaning and importance because these invitations serve to make us both parchment and pen.
When God invites us to be his friend, he makes us the parchment where his rescue story of hope, grace, love, truth, and holiness is being written in our own lives. When we become the parchment, our pain takes on meaning that is about drawing us to God.
When God invites us to be his partner, we become the pen. We are not the writer; we are the pen that he uses to write his Story on a friend, a child, a stranger, a family member, or a neighbor. We write as he directs, dictates, and his hope-filled wiring on the parchment of our lives becomes meaningful as he uses us to be the pen on the parchment of someone else’s life.
Let me finish with a story. I met Jesus in 1966 at a vacation Bible School. A speaker told a story, a man prayed with me, some amazingly kind and patent ladies stuck with me all week long. Over the years, teachers and coaches were beautifully used by God as a pen to write God’s Story on the parchment of my heart and mind. Pastors, other people, family, and some very dear friends have all been used by God as pens in my life. About 30+ years ago, I made a list and then set a goal. I made a list of everyone mentioned above and set a goal to thank them personally. This week, try making a list and set a goal. When you do, you become the pen.