The story we find ourselves in.....

What's so amazing about the big story of the bible, is that ordinary people like you and me get to play our part in it. It's as though we actually get written into the script, finding our lives caught up in the grand narrative sweep that stretches like an epic novel from the beginning of time, way ahead into an infinite future hope.

The Apostle Paul put it well in his letter to the Ephesian church when he said that we are now heirs, sharers together with Israel in the promise of Christ Jesus. In other words, it's no longer just someone else's story, we have been scripted in, we get to play our part.

In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C S Lewis gives us a similar insight. Edmund, Lucy, and their annoying cousin Eustace are drawn into the Narnian world through a picture of a ship at sea. The picture itself tells a story, but it's as though it becomes alive as they look at it, becoming so real, that they are pulled from their world into a greater reality, a new world. They land in the ocean near the boat and are taken aboard by the new King of Narnia, Caspian. The unfolding of the story finds them dragged from their present state into the service of a King on a mission, in a world which seemed far off or even unreal to them not long before.

I don't know of any better description of what ought to happen to us when we respond to the gospel and begin to follow Jesus. So many recognise that their sins have been forgiven, but fail to see the bigger narrative of God's mission in the world. So we continue in our own small stories, caught up in little more than individual self help plans and missing the grand adventure and purpose that God has intended we participate in.

If Paul is right that we are sharers in the promise of Jesus Christ, then we too must feel the pull of the new Kingdom. We too must allow ourselves to respond to the gravitational current of a greater reality, the call to service on the Kings mission and purpose. Ordinary believers like us must jump into a new world, one which may seem distant and unreal, but nothing less vital than the big story of God's redemptive plan for planet earth. Why waste your life on your own small story, when one so significant is waiting for you to participate?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Myra Wattinger & the voice of God

Don't kiss me - cross cultural fumblings!

The Seven Marks of a Healthy Church