Trust the Author

By Donna Winchell

 

⁴ “O Lord, make me know my end

and what is the measure of my days;

let me know how fleeting I am!

⁵ Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,

and my lifetime is as nothing before you.” (Psalm 39:4-5)

Stories entertain, inspire, teach and can be a rewarding bonding experience. My friend Dina reads to her granddaughter the same story about a Rottweiler puppy every afternoon before nap time; and we are all enriched and connected through the wonderful stories Becca shares with us each Sunday.

We all have a story to share, a biography about our relationship with God and how He has worked in our lives. Each of us is special and unique and our story may include pages sometimes full of excitement, sometimes filled with sadness or anxiety, chapters with periods of peace and hope or chapters we would like to remove altogether. The one consistent chapter in our stories, common to each of us as Christians, is that we are all sinners separated from God by sin; and through Jesus we have gained our salvation through His death on the cross. We have been redeemed because of Jesus’ death itself, and through His sacrifice He began the restoration process:

“²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatian 2:20).

If you share your own story with sufficient candor will it be the story you hope to reveal? It is possible if we allow God to write our story.

Lent is the perfect time to focus on God and with the help of the Holy Spirit to look back on past chapters – especially the times when we didn’t love like we should, when we failed our responsibilities or when we were centered on too many other things; settling for a life distanced from Him. Let this week be a special time to pray and discern what is keeping you from your story reflecting the righteous person you want to be. Invite God to help you search your heart and soul to see what is needed to refine your story moving forward. 

“The point here is not to rehearse every sinful moment of your life, which is impossible anyway.  Instead, invite God to lead you through your life history and reveal those moments in which you failed to love God, others, or yourself.  You may consider specific events or people, or reflect on more general attitudes or patterns of conduct.  In your reflection, notice the contagion of sin:  how my sin affects my world and others around me.”  (O’Brien)

When a chapter in our story contains a trial or challenge, God allows it for our spiritual good. Knowing this and acknowledging our wrongdoings will help us to be spiritually rejuvenated and through the very choices we make in our lives we will be able to tell our story the way we want it to be told. "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6).

Because of Jesus, our redemption chapters are revealing our journey of transformation and growth. It takes time and commitment in this journey with God, but it’s worth every beautiful step. I love that He is helping us write each chapter and uses the things we go through to teach us, to help build our storyline to be a reflection of God for His glory. Our ultimate goal is to experience a union with Him in the same way that Jesus was one with the Father.

Even though we can’t see the ending yet, God wants to help author our story to completion. By aligning our lives with God we will honor Him in each page; and it is the blessings of God’s grace, love and forgiveness that will lead to that perfect ending – a glorious eternity united with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, we know you have a purpose for our lives and that You are the writer of our story. We trust in You and pray for the wisdom to discern what changes we need to make to overcome our shortcomings because we want our life story to reveal Your grace, love and mercy; and bring You praise and glory. We pray that you will help finish our story and complete the redemptive work You have begun in us. In the wonderful and precious Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.