This post is the second in a series called “Your Assignment”. Below is the first post.
I hate to tell you but you are living in the wrong story.
Think about your story.
Who were your parents, where did you grow up? What was your family’s status in childhood? How did your personality develop, your ambition, or your laissez-faire attitudes? When did you stumble upon what you were good at? Who was your family, or did you end up making your own family out of who you knew?
Think about how you defined yourself at age 12. 18. 25. 40. Who are you now?
WHO CARES?
You might care a whole awful lot. So what? Does your story matter? Does it, really? Why?
If you were able to answer that “why?” with anything, it’s most likely because you connected your story to other people’s stories. Other people’s lives. Your story matters, you say, because it affected other people’s stories. Your spouse, friends, children….
The wise might even say that those other stories affected other stories, and so on. Boy, that makes me feel good. But why do all their stories matter? We’re all gonna die right? What makes our stories worth anything to someone from a futuristic alien planet?
Ultimately, you’d have to conclude, “Because God made me, made us, made them, and the world”.
You might say this with your tail tucked between your legs, ready for the postmodernists to blow up your sand castle of simplicity with nuclear missiles.
If it’s true, though, and it is true, that God made us, and them, and everything, then it stands to reason that you are living as a character in God’s Story. So what the heck is going on in that story? You should at least be curious.
You should seek, with all your might, to know unequivocally the story you are playing a part in. Where is God, the main character? Where are you? It is disappointing to learn that I am not the main character of my story.
You Are a Loser
telling you this is an act of love
I’ll never forget where I was when this all clicked. I was in school, and my teacher was explaining 2 Cor 2:14. I got a reminder of it tattooed on my forearm later.
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
My teacher explained that victorious Roman generals would parade their prisoners of war into the city. Former enemies of the state had a choice: live as slaves to Rome, or die as a sacrifice to Roman gods. In this way, Paul is saying that we are prisoners of God’s love. Our only option is to live as a servant to Christ, or die to ourselves as a sacrifice to Yahweh. Either way, we are now God’s slaves!
Class that day totally broke me as I finally realized that I could no longer treat Jesus as a main character in my story. Everything was about him! He’s the strong man, he’s the victor. My options were death or service to him. Jesus is no longer just a buddy, he’s the captain of my ship, my King. I lost the struggle to be the main character and I will lose every time.
The question then became: What is God’s Story, my role as a supporting character?
Additionally, just because you are not the main character does not mean that you are some extra on the set of God’s movie. Revelation 5:8 says God keeps “golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints”. God values your prayers, your input.
I think the whole point might be that if we are living in our own story we will struggle with our purpose, whereas if we take our place in God's Story we will know who we are and what to do. It’s an act of love to tell you that you are not the main character. Imagine the stress of running the Universe. We are invited instead to be God’s children:
“The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be their God and they shall be my child.” Revelation 5:7
You are the one who conquers
if we take our place in God’s story we will know who we are and what to do.
What is the work for you then? and why do I bother writing this post that may seem so obvious to you?
I write this post to prepare our thinking about God’s Story as I keep writing about it. The next post will be reflecting on one thing God wanted when He created the world: order.
As I write these posts, take some time to think: “Who am I in God’s Story? How does my story fit, or not fit? What should I be doing now to contribute to the ending God is writing for humanity?”
~2 billion people have been waiting almost 5,000 years to hear about God’s Story. They don’t know they’re even living in it. Do you?
I’ve started a thread below on some resources that may help you find your place in God’s Story, or just get a better picture of the state of the world. Add your own favorite books or podcasts below!
Thanks for reading!
In Christ,
P.S. below is my favorite sermon of all time, just because. Love you.
PPS the next post in this series is below: