Sharing Stories

When was the last time you asked someone their story? How can we ever really know another person without them revealing their story? Sure, you can get a lot of information about an individual off of the internet, but that information doesn't tell who they really are.

For instance, imagine that find out that a person loves a certain television show. What can their affinity for said television show tell you about them? It may tell you that they like a specific genre (like sci-fi). But what if they like the show in spite of its genre? Without peeling back the layers of the individual, and that rarely ever happens without self disclosure, what can you really know?

To really know someone, you have to get their story. To get their story, you have to go to the source. If revelation is necessary, and it is, in human relationships, how much more is it necessary in the relationship between God and man.

In Scripture, we have the revelation of God. God is revealing himself--his character and nature. He demonstrates his expectations of mankind. In that revelation, we meet God. As we read God's Word, we come to understand who God is. The unfolding of the knowledge of God, in turn, reveals something about ourselves.

Human beings are social creatures, created for social interaction. In part, that means we cannot fully understand ourselves apart from the relationships that we are in. To put it another way, when human beings interact they learn from one another. As we interact with each other, we learn about ourselves and our place in the larger world.

Likewise, as we come to know God through his Word, we learn about ourselves and our place in his story. Being caught up in God's story means that the lives our lives touch have a place in that story. So I return to my first question: When was the last time you asked someone their story? When was the last time you shared yours?

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.