The Power of a Story

I don't get to read much fiction.  I enjoy it, but I view it like cake for the mind.  A little will brighten your spirits, but a diet of only fiction might leave the brain a bit flabby.  The mind is amazing in its nearly infinite ability to stretch.  That is not to say, that stretching the mind is an easy thing.  Fiction has the ability to stretch the mind by introducing it to new places and new people.  It exposes the mind to events and experiences that would otherwise be unavailable.

I think the reason many of us enjoy fiction is because we get caught up in the story.  Often I find myself drawn into the story I am reading.  It pulls me along, with the characters, toward the climax.  It is often a bittersweet moment when I close the cover on a good story.  The characters have grown on me, some I love others I love to hate.  A fitting conclusion sweetens the connection.

I think this is why so much of the Bible is written in narrative form.  Our love of story is a God-given gift.  It is ingrained into the human experience.  Sure, some of people don't enjoy fiction, but you would be hard pressed to find an individual who doesn't enjoy a good story.  Well, maybe Sgt. Joe Friday, but just about everyone else wants a good story.

Life is enriched by the stories that surround us.  We want to hear stories about our kinfolk.  We want remember "that time" we did something-or-other.  Sometimes we pursue others' stories, because we feel our own story is dull or worthless.  When we get too caught up in the stories of others, we forget that God has written us into his story, and that means our story matters.

As we read the story of God, as it is revealed in the Bible, we realize that he is writing our story as well.  We learn that these people, who lived and died so long ago, are our people.  The central message of the Bible is that God our creator became our redeemer through the person and work of Jesus.  Jesus is the promised "anointed" one, who was to come and deliver God's people, and so he did.  The whole of the Bible points us to Jesus.  The power of the story of Jesus rests in the fact that it is true.  The gospel isn't just another story--it's history, and his story. 

So, do you have a part in his story?  Look at all the stories you hear in the day from the newspaper, magazines, t.v. shows, the news, conversations with friends or family, etc.  What role do stories have in your life?  What's your story? I love to hear it.