Our favorite singers, songwriters, comedians, preachers or public speakers all have one thing in common: they know how to tell a good story. And when they finish telling a story I feel connected to it–and them–in some profound way. I can relate in laughter or tears, in agreement or disagreement, but I connect powerfully with the stories they tell.
That’s how it works in the rest of our lives too.
We get to know each other and build friendships by sharing our stories. We are bound together by common themes and the things we have jointly experienced. In fact that is how relationship and community happens…our common stories connect us, and bind us together.
Deep down inside, even if we can’t explain it, we all yearn to be connected to a BIGGER story, to have our lives make a difference and be connected to something more. That is because our lives are all actually part of a much, much larger story. And there is ONE dominant Story that all of our stories will ultimately find their place in and finally be complete because of…that’s God’s Story.
His Story comes before, finishes, corrects and ultimately makes sense of all other stories.[clickToTweet tweet=”Every part of our own story, and everyone else’s, is actually a reflection of the Story of God.” quote=”Every part of our own story, and everyone else’s, is actually a reflection of the Story of God.”]
Every part of our own story, and everyone else’s, is actually a reflection of the Story of God. That is how God has designed things. Our life story, and all of the little pieces that make it up, actually follow the same pattern found in God’s story throughout the Bible, here’s what that looks like:
CREATION➜FALL➜REDEMPTION➜RESTORATION
That’s a pretty quick 4–scene version of the story found in the Bible.
In order to effectively share who God is, what he’s up to in this world and how he’s changing our life, we must learn how to tell our stories through the lens of this larger Story.
Let me quickly share, in each of these scenes, one question that you’ll need to try and answer as you tell your story:
CREATION: The Key Question here is: Who or What most shaped who you thought you were, and where you got your real value and “identity” in life from?
FALL: The Key Question here is: Why was your relationship with God and others, (and anything else in your life), NOT the way it was supposed to be–like God created it to be? How where you rebelling against God and his ways?
REDEMPTION: The Key Question here is: How has Jesus taken the penalty for your rebellion on himself and how you came to put your faith and trust in Him to redeem and restore your life to the way God intended it to be?
RESTORATION: The Key Question here is: What has changed and what is changing in your life now? AND… Who and what is the focus of your life today?
That should help get you started in the right direction…
One more thing: Unfortunately, often when we Christians tell our stories (usually called “sharing our testimony”) we give very little evidence to the fact that we needed to be rescued and restored by God for his glory and Kingdom purposes. And if we do mention God or Jesus in our story, we’ll probably tell of some experience we had at a church service or youth camp…saying a special prayer… Then we talk about how much better our life is going today. And to tell the truth, we don’t usually make ourselves look that bad, and we don’t make God look all that good. We are the primary focus, the hero in our story, but we’re sorta thankful for God’s help along the way.[clickToTweet tweet=”We must learn to tell our story in a way that God is the hero.” quote=”We must learn to tell our story in a way that God is the hero.”]
However, we can learn to tell our stories in a way that shows God is the hero of the story! and will be both salt and light to others; salty like potato chips–after getting started they’ll want to hear more; and light that illuminates a path toward new life with Jesus. So if you’ve been shy in telling your faith story to others or making yourself out to be better than you really are…the next best time to make your story part of THE story is now.
Here’s a link to a free resource: My Gospel Story that will completely expand on all of this and walk you through creating your own story. I hope that helps. I would love to here your story when you finish it!
[Comments from my old website/blog were not carried over to this new one. Please leave your thoughts below.]
