This is the first of a series of posts exploring what is our role in God’s story? Missio wants to see every man, woman, and child equipped to follow Jesus and lead others to do the same- but that only happens if we understand God’s story and see afresh our role to play in it.
In order to get to our role in God’s story though, we’ve got to start with some work below the surface. There’s a lot happening that we may not give voice to often, but like a good archeologist, we need to brush away the dirt and see what lies beneath the everday stuff of life we see.
On The Journey With You-
Kevin
Most of us don’t wake up thinking:
“What Story AM I Living IN?”
We wake up with “more pressing questions” don’t we? We wake up thinking…
Is that my alarm already?
What do I need to get done today?
What’s on the calendar?
Is that bill due today?
Who left the ice cream out?
What problems do I have to solve?
Do I really have to go to school today?
Is the coffee ready yet?
And without much processing, we start making decisions. Small ones. Everyday ones. Normal ones. But underneath all of those decisions, there’s a deeper current running and silently guiding those decisions. You are living inside a story and that story gives shape to your life. (Real quick, when you read story, don’t think fairy tale- think grand narrative that pieces together the big questions of life… Ok back to it.)
This story isn’t one we’ve scripted ourselves.
It may not even one we fully understand.
But make no mistake, It is shaping every, single decision we make.
And here’s an uncomfortable truth- If we don’t know the story we are in, we will naturally default to a smaller one than we were intended for. As one author says….
“I can’t answer the question what am I supposed to do, unless I’ve answered the prior question- of what story do I find myself a part?” Alistair McIntyre
Fun Fact: We all base our decisions on some set of presuppositions that we hardly ever consider.
Those of us who live in PHX know this in a pretty tangible way- we never check the weather when planning anything. If you live elsewhere in the country- you check to see what the weather will be that day. You pack an umbrella, grab a winter hat, or plan your shoes based on if snow is coming- we never do that stuff. We assume that the weather will be warm or hot and sunny and go about our days. (We also do stuff like give distance in minutes, not miles, “How far do you live from downtown Mesa?? Umm about 10 minutes.” but that’s a story for another day. Let’s keep going.)
The same is true of the stories guiding our lives. If your story is:
I need to get as much as I CAN…
I need to produce to have worth…
I need to follow the rules for God to love me…
I’m only valued if others approve of me…
I need to look out for myself. No one else is coming to help…
Then your decisions will be (often intuitively) based on those assumptions about the world, what it means to be human, what’s wrong with this world, what can fix it, and what you are supposed to be doing with your time.
And over time, those lesser stories start to deform us.
When we start to get the life we’ve dreamed of in those stories we get prideful. When our goals gets blocked we can get depressed or angry. Those lesser stories lead us away from the truly flourishing life we were designed to have. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Jesus’ claim was that he came to give “fully alive life.”
Track with me. Unlimited time on Netflix makes sense in one story, but stands in stark contrast to others. Moving in with your girlfriend / boyfriend only makes sense if you live in certain stories, not in others. Going into debt to get that dream vacation makes sense in one story, and seems absolutely ridiculous in another.
So Here’s what I want you to consider:
What if the truest thing about your life is not what you’re trying to build, prove, or protect. Not your brand. Not your business. Not your relationship status. Not your family. Not your bank account. Not your political party. Not the size of your friend group. Not the square footage of your home. Not the trips you’ve taken. Not your time on Strava.
But what if it was the story God is already telling? One where you are deeply loved by God and have meaningful work to do in His world.