Daily Devotions - Week of February 5th, 2023

A Better Story

Stories help humanity to make sense of the world. Stories give us a starting point, providing definition and direction for life. Attracted by the secular story of individualism, too often Christians exchange the bottomless wells of divine truth for shallow puddles. Some theologians even compare such competing narratives to non-Christian religions, like Islam and Hinduism. The world needs a better story!

The incarnation of Jesus writes a better story for us: in Christ, God becomes human. And He has drawn all believers into Himself, reconciling them by the blood of His cross, into a reality where His life now lives within His people. His story has become their story. Rather than a life where my dreams and destiny are bound by my own limitation and imagination, I am united with Christ, the infinite. My story of empty individualism ends at Baptism; now I live in Christ.

The declaration of sins forgiven and death defeated are at the center of the Gospel. But the story of Scripture ventures beyond Calvary and the garden tomb. In Christ, God is at work in creation today in ways that reveal His eternal kingdom. And Christ, the Author, is coming back not just to restore, but to re-story, all things to their intended perfection. It’s time to tell the world its story again, so they can see the better story written in the blood of Jesus shed for the world, and live in the hope of seeing Jesus face-to-face.