The Importance of Storying: God's Story

Major Literary Styles of the Bible:

75% narrative story (revealing the work of God through stories all pointing to Christ)

15% poetry (songs, lamentations and proverbs expressing various emotions)

10% thought organized (logical and linear Greek-influenced thinking)

When you think about it, what is the Bible?  It's the Word of the One True God, living and active (Hebrews 4:12). The whole Bible points towards Jesus. The Old Testament contains prophecies about the Messiah and patterns of God's activity which Jesus interprets in all the Scriptures as "the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:26-27).  Jesus spoke in parables, simple stories illustrating a moral and spiritual lesson, throughout His ministry.

If God communicated the majority of His message to the world through story, 

how does this change how we approach sharing the Gospel?

When people hear the biblical story for the first time:

"They ask themselves, 'Is this good for us? Does it give us a better way of coping with our world, of making sense of it? Does this story match reality as we know it? Does it give hope to our people?' 

For the biblical story to be received and believed by a people, it must find place and connection within their worldview. If it is perceived as a story that has answers for their people, as a story that fulfills the longings and hopes of their people, it becomes good news to them. They can see themselves connected in a new way to an ancient and holy God who has great concern for them. He has revealed Himself to them in His Son who fulfills ancient promises and hopes for every nation. Following Him restores their identity and purpose on earth. They become part of God's story."1

What is God's Story?

True Story.  In the beginning there was God.  He created the world, but his most special creation was man and woman.  They had a perfect relationship with their loving Father without sin until temptation of power came their way.  Since God is so holy, man couldn't have a direct relationship with their Creator anymore.  Over the years, there were many sacrifices, trying to please a holy God, but no blood atonement could work except for the Son of God.  So the Father sent His Son to us to be that last and ultimate sacrifice.  By defeating death, sin and shame, we now have freedom in Christ because He made a way for us to have that community with God that we so desperately desire.

"For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. "  John 3:16-17 

The Wrong Approach:

Christianity has unfortunately been associated with colonialism so strongly that it did not represent Christ well while exploring other nations.  It became a religion which was used to justify the actions of the colonists.  Zealots became crusaders tainting the work of Jesus by displaying the cross on their shields and warring against Muslims in His Name.  Some European missionaries went to villages in Africa and expected the villagers to worship God through singing and reading in English.  In the past, we've tried to change their values, beliefs, religion, and worldview to fit ours forgetting to truly serve one another in love (Galations 5:13).

The Life-Giving Approach:

It's so important to try to understand their culture and to realize they need to know God intimately in their mother-tongue, their heart language.  Unlike the Allah in Islam who only speaks and accepts Arabic, God created all languages and tongues and people.  He enjoys His ethnically diverse creation and wants all peoples to know their Creator.  Take a moment to reflect on your identity found in Christ.  How does that change your perspective on life?  How does that affect your relationships?  We are given freedom and life in Christ because of God's boundless grace towards us every single day (Lamentations 3:22-23).

How can we not tell this Story!

1  "Transforming Worldviews through the Biblical Story" by D.Bruce Graham

Secret Place

Here's a post from little more than a year ago when I was living in North Africa.  The feelings of needing to get away from the busy streets, construction outside my window, various distractions and just spending time with the Father have not been absent.  I've been yearning for this freedom and solitude.  I have to find a place where I can go about once a month and just spend the day or night with Him.

Friday, October 26, 2012

The moon, one of the two bright eyes that oversee the earth, shine beams of dazzling light on the rooftops, giving away my position if anyone dared look out their window.  Her am I, on the highest part of the roof;  the concrete walls my friends and the crisp evening air blow my soft curls against my shoulders as I sit and admire the glowing ball in the sky.  Potential storm clouds sail the thin sea of cumulus clouds, wrapping around the mountains like a ghost ship sailing towards the east.  In response, the clothes and billowy sheets sway on the clothesline, either waving at the great host of clouds or warning that they soon will come.

I found the ladder while dancing barefoot on the chilly cement roof.  Four stories high and no one traveling the dirt streets would see me dancing.  This is where I can be alone, where I can be free.  Feel the dirt clinging to my feet; the cold air whipping my face, the current flowing from my toes to my fingertips.  A wooden ladder lay propped against the wall of the small laundry room.  With the thought that someone might see me, I hesitated, not wanting to cause a riot of why an American girl was climbing the roof in a Mslim country in jeans and without a headscarf at night.  But then the adventurous side of me kicked in and I gripped the rickety wooden ladder and climbed until I felt rough concrete.

However, I was not alone in my secret place.

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I trust!"  Psalm 91:1-2

The wild boar scavenging food for its young, cats hopping from wall to wall, people chattering away in foreign tongue, shadows of families preparing for dinner flicker through the glass window panes.  Everything God made surrounds me like a silent song, for not every living creature knows it's Creator.

K@

And by the time I've finished this post, the Father has already provided a secret place where I can get away every now and then. ♥

Why I'm Here

Chicago is the problem

Chicago is the problem

Stormy weather

Flights altogether

Are cancelled and delayed

But I'm not dismayed

Give me Atlanta

Or Pittsburgh any day.

Snow and ice

Aren't all that nice

When planes need in

And people need out

Takes hours on end

To change the route

Lines are still busy.

They called me back

Then hung up

Called several times

Put me on hold

For half an hour

I'm not sour

Not yet.

It's been a long day

But I'm still at home

In my pajamas

Didn't break a sweat

Expectations met

Plans go awry

Not to my surprise.

Test of patience

And dependence

On my Heavenly Father

Glad I bother

Having friends pray

For His way

To be done.

When it rains

It pours

But I talk with Him

Who made the rain

Who cares for me

Provides what I need

Right now, it's sleep.

Abide in Him

I waited patiently for the Lord;

He turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

He set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear 

and put their trust in the Lord.

Psalm 40:1-3

I want to be in awe of Him every day.  To relinquish my desires for control into His sovereign hands.  To relentlessly love as He loves every sinner.  To see you and him and her through His eyes.  To feel His heartbeat and follow His footsteps like a child who sits on her Daddy's lap and tries to follow his stride.  To get down on my knees today and the day when I am feeble and wrinkled in earnest, sweet prayer.  Lord, give me that burning passion to fall in love with you every moment of every day for the rest of my life.