We're all up to something all the time. We live planned lives that revolve around the story we're writing, one affectionately known as The Story of Me. And when things mess with the narrative, we don't like it. But there's a problem: we've forgotten whose story we're in.
The Bible opens with the words, "In the beginning, God…." The story God is writing doesn't begin with you and me. We'd like it if it did because then we'd be the main characters, large and in charge. But it doesn’t. It’s His story.
The first thing we see God doing is building a beautiful stage for His story: land, water, heavenly bodies, light, darkness, plant and animal life. When everything is just as He wants it, He adds His true masterpiece: people—living souls created in His image. All is good.
But it didn’t take long for His masterpiece to grab the pen and declare, "Mine, Mine! This is going to be MY story with MY rules, and I'M going to be the main character. Maybe I’ll give God a bit part, but make no mistake; it's The Story of Me, large and in charge."
What do you think happens when you have billions of people writing their own stories with themselves as the main characters? Chaos. Everyone wants to control the game board, and when someone or something gets in the way, it fuels anger, frustration, exhaustion, broken relationships, and pain.
This breaks the heart of God, so He introduces a new storyline into the narrative: redemption. The Bible is the unfolding of His redemptive plan to pull people back into a relationship with Him so they can experience the better story He designed for them long ago.
It's important to understand that redemption isn't about God taking something that doesn't belong to Him, but rather getting back what has always been His. Like finding something in a pawn shop you've had taken, you're willing to take the loss and pay the price to get back what you value.
That's what the cross is all about. Jesus took the loss of death to buy us back so we could be restored to our place in His story. The sequence of Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT) is one of my favorites in its description of this:
God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.
I'm God's masterpiece. You're God's masterpiece. My little dog is adorable and a good companion, but he's not His masterpiece. That title is reserved for you and me alone. When we step into a relationship with God through the cross of Jesus, something incredible happens:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
God doesn't make us new creations so we can continue our own little insignificant stories with fewer interruptions. NO! It's so we can step into the part He's had for us in HIS story from the very beginning, a story that looks and feels different because it IS different!
It’s living in the better Story of God.