I had this thought yesterday:
Everyone who lives with barriers to belief who has made a conscious negative response about faith has fully misjudged God.
The realization of that stopped me. Somehow I knew it was a glimpse of God’s perspective and his true love for those he misses. And so I stopped and considered it. And no more than a moment later, a fuller picture emerged. And it shocked me:
With unbelievers, there is no other category.
No other category! To know him for who he truly is always = loving him. And that love changes anyone who encounters it. But anyone who has trouble believing or loving, it is misunderstanding that's to blame. And it's this misunderstanding that's constantly used as our excuse, evidence that he doesn’t exist or isn’t what we want or need. The lack of evidence about God becomes our weapon to use against him.
Can you see the problem?
So what's the solution? Reconnecting. God wants to reconnect. And any writer working to write a true spiritual story has the greatest advantage: story! The method God himself has used to share this vitally relevant truth.
I'd like to humbly propose that reconnecting the disconnected is the grand story of all humanity. It's what it's all about. This is why everything is about story because we're all a part of it, his story of coming and reconnecting. Story is all about the one who overcomes unbeatable odds to achieve what seemed impossible. And it's happening every day, all around us if only we could see it.
Do you ever think about that? Maybe if there was time you would. But I'm wondering if there's time to think of anything but this.
This story thing is so powerful when you think of it as the way God's created us to reconnect. And because it's his, absolutely everything is a part of it, what he created, his world, the lives he spoke into being, the narrative he placed us in. We all want to read his words and know how he reveals himself and reconnects with us. Every true spiritual story is one more piece of the larger unfolding story of reconnection, as infinite as the universe, more evidence that one day it will all be reconnected. Can your story reconnect others with him, show him for who he is? How many need to read it to be reconnected and add their line in the bigger story. And how many of these stories can we find?
Authors of faith, you are royal daughters and sons of the great Reconnector. See your tool clearly. You must tell the story. Provide the escape. End the misunderstanding. Deliver the inspiration.
Crush the lack of evidence.
Open the eyes.
Write for one.
Like, brilliant, man. Love it. . .
Thank you!!! Dear Jesus led me to you! You have been such a gift to me at such a time as this! God bless you, richly, dear Mick!
A resounding YES!!
Here we are, sitting in cozy, fire-side cushy chairs. The dancing flames reflect in our eyes and we are one in mind and spirit. The resounding “Amen,” goes to brother Mick when he offers his piece of the Bread of Life. We eat of the sustenance and are now warm and full. We are reminded of our Lord’s words, “This is my body, take, eat. Do this in memory of me.”
Awesome piece Mick. I think I’ll be adding a new post-it to my monitor: Story?
Even if people aren’t ready for the topic? I guess in the end, not all accepted Jesus. And yet, the harvest was ripe. I was just reading in Luke when the pharasees asked why Jesus’ followers didn’t fast. He told about the old wine and the new wine. It stumped me at first and then I realized he was rebuking them saying you are happy with the old ways, I didn’t come for you, you think you know the way. It reminds me of how God uses unlikely people to tell surprising stories about His incredible ways.
Out of all your blogs this one gives the greatest thrust to my writing and living, Mick It is also the reason FaceBook has taken the world by tsunami. We crave hearing each other’s stories. Even the worst ones give us hope that we’ll make it to the other side of the shore. You remind me that as an incarnational being, a Master Storyteller lives within. My greatest task is to tell His story through the paradigm of mine.