What's Your Story?

It somehow came to pass that on Saturday morning at 11 a.m., I found myself on a couch on the campus of an old university across the river in a meeting of "The Society of the Two Tasks". The topic of discussion for this particular meeting was world views: what are they? How can you tell what someone's world view is? What are some of the different world views?

Naturally, we all approached the discussion with the framework of assessing and addressing the world views of others; in particular those hostile to Christianity. But the instructor soon turned the discussion inward: is your world view really in line with what you profess to believe?

He proposed that we all have, at our core, a story. Our story can be along the lines of "I'm going to shape the industry I work in and make a difference" or "When I get my degree, all the hard work and effort will be meaningful", etc. From this story, flows our identity: "I'm a career woman" or "I'm a smart academic". From that flows our actual convictional beliefs (which often contradict our "confessional" beliefs, or what we say we believe). Then come our priorities, and finally our actions.

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It then came to pass that on Sunday night, I found myself lounging on the couch watching a chick flick with my roommate and her boyfriend. It had been a long time since I'd actually watched a chick flick* and I found myself disillusioned and annoyed with the plot line.

I had a realization, though. Most of my life, I've been saturated with all things romance: Christy Miller novels in high school, well-intentioned (don't date) dating books called "When God Writes Your Love Story", chick flick after chick flick and romance novel after romance novel. Thanks to the purity culture, at full steam during my teenage and young adult years, so much of that core story started to shape itself around love, romance, marriage and God's plan for my love life.

It was so well intentioned: make wise decisions, think about the future impact of the choices you make today, (don't let getting pregnant in high school mess up your future). But it also had the by-product of shaping that core story in my life to be a romance novel in which everything that God did in my life was part of his his plan for my life... my love life.

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God is teaching me that my story is very different.

This is our story:

God created the world, and it was good. Man and nature were in perfect shalom, and God created man and woman out of a perfect love and a perfect community. The purpose of creation was to bring glory to God. Mankind was tasked with cultivating creation and creating culture. Man sinned and broke that perfect relationship. Sin disrupted shalom and suddenly the joyful task of work was cursed with thorns and thistles.

But God had a plan.

The punishment and consequence for sin is death: separation from God. God could not judge sin apart from eternal separation from us, so in love he sent his Son Jesus to live the life we should have lived and die the death we should have died. Jesus bore our punishment and rose from the dead, conquering death once and for all.

When we choose to accept what Christ has done for us, we are saved, being saved and will be saved. At once, we are positionally saved - in God's books, our record is spotless. We are being saved - we undergo the process of sanctification as we learn to live out a perfect relationship with God that is marked by obedience and submission. We will be saved - there will come a time when we experience full shalom without also being exposed to the consequences of sin here on this broken earth.

When we are saved, at least two exciting things happen:

1. God promises that he works all things for our good.
2. We get to participate in bringing glory to God as he uses us to restore creation and live in community with others.

So that story replaces our other stories. It is a timeless story - we will be fulfilling that story throughout our time on earth. 

It is a story that does not lead to disappointment... Have you ever noticed chick flicks don't have sequels? No one cares what happens in the hard times after the wedding... that isn't funny and doesn't make us swoon. 

It's a story that leads to a lasting identity... child of God, co-heir with Christ, worshiper of God.

I know we all know this... but I think there's value in pausing to reflect. What is your story? What are the narratives shaping your life? How are they shaping your priorities? What disappointments are rooted in having a different story for your life than the beautiful story of what God has done for you and calls you to?

As you consider this, remember... grace and love are at the root of the story. Sanctification takes time, but we come to it from a place of victory. We are loved and accepted, even when we don't remember that we are loved and accepted.

*I actually used to really love a good, lighthearted, funny chick flick, but I can't remember the last time one actually came out. Everything these days is either "bring a box of tissues" or super raunchy, neither of which satisfy my chick flick need.