Tuesday, November 26, 2013

A Blast from the Past: Our Stories Matter (More than We Think)

Hello y'all:

I was reading some notes from my blog today, and I came across a short article entitled "Our Stories Matter."  I thought it was about something else, so I read it.  As I read the post, I couldn't help but think how appropriate it is even today (almost 10 years later). So I thought I'd share it again (with a bit of editing).  Enjoy!

Proverbs 20:6-7
6 Many a man proclaims his own loyalty,
But who can find a trustworthy man?
7 A righteous man who walks in his integrity —
How blessed are his sons after him.
NASU

Frederick Buechner describes the Word of God as a portrait of a Lover pursuing his beloved, of God’s pursuit of all of us in love, of our failures and his successes. I’m sure that he is right. Once I find myself (by God's grace) to be participating in the biblical story (i.e., when it becomes MY story), then I in some sense begin to live out in real life the written word of God so as to complete the mission that Jesus started (and finished) so many centuries ago.
Didn’t Jesus say to us that he will send us in the same way that the Father sent him? Didn’t he tell us that we would do greater works than he did? Why are we so unwilling to enter the story, to become willing participants in the great work and story of almighty God?
We 21st century, post-modern humans are sometimes such idiots. We analyze and scrutinize the structure of everything from newspapers to movies, we even do the same to the Bible, and yet we are constantly missing the point! We are so out of sync with God’s story as to be totally missing his “Once upon a time” and “happily ever after.” John Eldredge is (to a degree at least) correct to point out to us our loss of story, our loss of God’s great epic being told even today. Take the verses quoted above—in today’s post-modern culture, the idea is to win at all costs no matter who may get hurt.
But if we live without faithfulness or without integrity, we are genuinely hurting the generation after us. Politicians may fume and fuss about this or that “personal situation” or whatever, but when our leaders (and we ourselves) show a remarkable lack of integrity, it sets the bar lower for the next generation. Guess what? The next generation will live down to our expectations if we continue in this outrage. Why? I’ll tell you why, it is because they have seen a remarkable lack of loyalty and integrity in us.
In other words, we will really reap what we sow.  If we continue to sow a life of pure selfishness; if we continue to sow lies and call it "transparency"; if we continue to sow a lack of integrity and loyalty and call it "success"; then in the end we will reap a crop (or a crop failure) that will not be what we hoped.  I really cannot expect others to live a life of transparency, honesty, or integrity if I am willing to push the "Easy" button in my own life and be a hypocrite just to gain whatever "success" the world claims is out there.  My story matters if for no other reason than the reality that my story includes hundreds of others whose stories somehow become intertwined with mine.  As they do, my failure has a negative impact on their story. 
Do I want the generation behind me to be transparent, honest, and compassionate?  Then I can't live as a hypocrite who lies and doesn't love others.  They will be infected by the virus of my lack of integrity and will marvelously fail at living to the standard I expect.  In other words, if I don't live it, then I really can't reasonably expect that they will.  How I live the story that God is telling in my life sets a standard for others.  It’s true, and in our honest moments we know it! It is the story of life.  So, how are we doing?
 Well, there it is.  I only want to add one thing:  Jesus never asked us to do anything he wasn't willing to do himself.  Why do I think I should set any other standard in my own life?  If I want to lead, I must serve.  If I want to be like Jesus, I must learn humility and love.  I must serve others.  If I don't, then why do I expect my children to do better?

I am sometimes a magnificent failure--of that I am sure.  Nonetheless, I know that God has called me to a life not of mediocrity but of excellence in his grace.  His kindness, his mercy, his humility beckons to me to come and die--to lay down my life for others that they might live.  Certainly this idea is counter-intertuitive, but it is also biblical.  "Unless a grain of wheat . . . "

So, I'll ask again:  Do we want integrity?  If so, are we willing to walk in it?  Desiring it and actualizing it are not the same thing.  "Integrity" has as one of its meanings "the state of being complete and undivided."  James 1 reminds us to avoid double-mindedness, and this chapter describes righteousness as pursuing with complete and undivided attention the things God values.  What does God value?  He does NOT value dishonesty, hypocrisy, arrogance, or pride.  So, how am I doing?  Do I want to be "whole" in Christ, or do I want to continue in double-minded hypocrisy?   How I live the story God is telling makes a difference.  How you live your story matters too.

May God forgive our hypocrisy and lack of integrity, and may he grant us the focus of Paul in Philippians 2 to pursue Christ's humble mindset with single-minded passion!  May Jesus become our one true obsession!  I long for that day.

Won't you join me in praying for and pursuing it?

Thanks for reading, dear pilgrim!  Keep pressing on to know the One who tells Epic stories! 

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