What’s your story? The concept of narrative seems to drive our culture. Facts don’t do it anymore. Data points are okay, but where is the story? Championships are good and all but a good story will grab the people’s attention. We see this when the Olympics come around.

It is not enough that athletes give so much on the altar of dedication to their sport. To get people to care about these sports, at least for the brief week or so before the Olympics, a story of overcoming odds is told. This is why the camera will pan over to the mom or dad of the athlete. The commentator will start to spin out the tale of early morning practices, sacrifices made, and single-minded devotion for this sport. It’s a story that grabs our attention. It’s a story that makes the following performance, race, game, match, or whatever interesting.

Talk with anyone for any amount of time and chances they will ask you “What is your story?” They are seeking to know you and it is easier to ask what a person’s story is than to ask facts about them. In their story they will tell you about themselves, starting with what they believe are the most important details. We all have a story. We are all in a story. And how people view the world is determined in large part by what they believe the story to be. 

This should greatly impact how we talk with people about the reality of this world and life. We should be able to tell the story of God and His plan for His people on this world He made and the future that He has planned. Being able to tell this story well makes it plausible for people to believe. It is not just one or even connected points of data or facts, but a story that encompasses all that is.

This is a conviction for the Christian, that God has given us a story about how He made the world, what happen to the world, how God has redeemed His people, and what the future holds for them. This story is found in the pages of the Bible made up of 66 books that while having many authors also has one single author. And this story doesn’t stop at the pages of the Bible, but it is also is being written on the pages of our lives as we find our place within its plot line.

Can you tell the story of the Bible? Can you trace quickly through the pages God’s plan in a way that captures a person’s attention and makes the facts of the gospel plausible? We should all seek to know the story of the Bible, not as simple facts, but as a vivid living story that we find our place within.

Think of the approachableness of being able to talk with someone struggling with how they see themselves by being able to trace who God made humanity to be through the whole story line of the bible. You are able to highlight God’s good creation, explain what happened, provide a relevant and real life application of how God’s redeeming plan is at work right now, and provide the future hope that waits. This is a story that not only gives hope, but grounds a person in God’s revealed Word. This story can be told so many ways to address so many of the struggles we face. We are part of God’s story and we quickly realize that the only way to make sense of life is for us to find our correct place within His story.

So hold out a better story. The world is telling so many false and counterfeit stories that give false hopes and will fold under the pressure of life. Hold out God’s story and people can truly find not only themselves, but the author as well.