Do you recognize His Story in your life?  How would the chapters of His Story read in your life?  I’m afraid Chapter 25 has been repeated too many times in my life: Bill went to church, heard a good sermon, sang songs, gave God some glory, went home and waited for next Sunday. 

Don’t get me wrong, I believe God can be glorified in the mundane, but the chapter summarized above wouldn’t make the Editor’s cut for His Story? Where is the 'Go' of the Gospel in my life?  Does someone have to read between the lines or use their imagination to see His Story and glory in my life?  Or worse, does God? 

The life of a Christian should read more like a novel of action, suspense, or adventure—not a tragedy.  Sadly, what is missing from some of the chapters of my life is the part where I take risks for Christ.  How have I followed where God called me?

That’s the problem for me and for many like me.  It’s easy to hear God’s calling to us as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, and other ‘standard’ aspects of the Christian life.  But how is God calling us in taking greater risks for Him?  Some people may be waiting for God to speak to someone else and just follow that call for their own lives.  That may be helpful in casting a corporate vision but each of us must hear and follow what God is saying to us personally. 

As Pastor Dan preached a few weeks ago, God’s calling has to be radical.  But being 'radical for Christ' must mean more than just being different. Jesus calls us to live outside the norm...in a much greater sense that must involve personal risk. "Radical" waters down the original Biblical words of a 'dying' and 'living sacrifice.'  Jesus' call is very clear. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (Matthew 16:24-25)

This language is deadly radical!  How is Jesus calling you to die?  The verses above represent the plot the Holy Spirit wants to use to write His Story into your life.  It is that story which will make for irresistible reading and He promises that it will never be boring.

We have this insatiable desire for a story. God created us to communicate, relate, and share.  We do a great deal of that through stories of some sort.  Would it be such a broad stretch to say that God designed us as story beings?    Is the story something we can live without?  A story would not be ranked too high according to Maslow’s assessment of man’s most important needs: air, water, food, etc.   

However God’s Word, His story, is elevated to a class all by itself among stories and man’s needs.  God elevates the importance of His Word to the same physical level as food and drink.  Jesus, in His own words, says, “…Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).  And God’s Word is more than just provision for physical life.  It is our only sustenance in spiritual life.  Our spiritual lives depend on this Word“…that became flesh and dwelt among us.”  God’s Story comes off the pages and lives within us.  This kind of story needs more than all of our senses and 3-D glasses to perceive. 

If God’s Word is God’s story and His glory through His Son Jesus, then why is it sometimes like dry toast to me…or worse diet popcorn?   Why is it that I would sometimes rather turn on the TV than open God’s Word?  Maybe this is more of a statement about the reader (me) than the Writer. I believe this happens when I approach His Word as just words on a page.  I approach His Word looking for information or insight instead of relationship…or worse I’m reading because Christians are supposed to.                 God’s Word does not have to come alive.  I do!

Do you ever feel this way?  Do you ever approach God’s Word as a ‘religious’ chore or duty?  Join me in asking God to give us fresh eyes to trace His hand and see His glory in the lives of the heroes and fathers of our faith.  But let’s not just be satisfied with seeking His glory of the past.  Let’s ask Him to help us to see His Spirit and glory moving and working around and through our lives today.  Let’s beg Him to use us in His Story as if it were the very air, water, and food of our souls.