The Power of Story is God's Glory
THE POWER OF CHRIST’S STORY
Each year we engage with the origin story of Jesus during the Christmas season and at the start of the year. We love to meditate on the preparations God the Father made for his son to be born. There were miracles, dreams, danger, and signs of glory as the Word of God became flesh. We don’t get tired of reading, retelling, and singing about the way the Messiah came into the world because it shines redemption into our own story. Ordinary and even offensive wooden instruments, a manger, and a cross were to become objects that our Savior needed to lean on at his welcome and departure; the cross in particular embedded itself into our own story.
THE NEED FOR HIS STORY TO BE INFUSED INTO OURS
What can be more important than story? For each one of us, our personal story becomes the most striking because whether or not we are aware of it, we carry our origins with us and it affects almost everything we say or do. Our past becomes the lens through which we reason in the present.
It often becomes necessary to retell our story with God in the midst of the hardest situations we have had to face. In fact, this can become our testimony and be the fuel that we need to let the ministry of God flow through us and touch the lives around us. Our crucibles can become vessels in which he transfigures us into shining mirrors of his character.
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are *changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Cor 3:18
*The word “changed” means metamorphose in Greek and is the same as transfigured.
HE MAKES HIS WAY AND IT BECOMES OUR TESTIMONY
We need light sprinkled throughout our story as signs of God’s presence even in places that were once too dark. The affirmation of the Spirit guarantees that we have a right to this light. (Eph 1:14) The core belief that God is good, faithful, and trustworthy must replace the agreements we have made with fear and pain. We need the love of God, flowing like a river into our lives continually promising that we are not alone. Please read this verse slowly:
“Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting.
‘Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!
Fill the valleys, and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves, and smooth the rough places.
The glory of the LORD will be revealed
And all the people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!”
Isaiah 40:3-5
Recently, I read this scripture and I saw it through the lens of healing, it completely changed how I viewed this process that we are in. It was no longer only pointing to Elijah, John the Baptist, the Coming of Christ; now it also includes me, it includes you.
I began to see that the rough, crooked, and high wildernesses and wastelands - the places of hurt and trauma are places the Lord wants to walk upon. This is not a call to perfection. It is a call to being known, seen, and loved; to be made whole. And it is your inheritance. (Eph 1:11)
OUR RESPONSE
Notice, God is not the one clearing, making, filling, straightening, and smoothing. It involves our engagement, agreement, and openness so that the King of glory may come in. We must declare:
“Open up, ancient gates! Open up ancient doors,
And let the King of glory enter. Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of heaven’s armies, He is the King of glory.”
Psalm 24: 7-10
If our faith is founded on this deep connection to God’s goodness, allowing him to engage with our story, then we have moved past the motions of religion and into an active and living reality, despite the brokenness in us. Our experiences begin to involve the Divine Nature and the temporal is not the sole informant of who we are. We can be filled with hope and with desire. We can begin to petition with joy, trust, and longing, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.”
Grateful for your partnership,
