God-centered Living

The Bible contains one ongoing storyline with a cohesive purpose demonstrated throughout. It tells from beginning to end of God’s redemptive purposes and His work to show His magnificence through His wondrous grace. The author of this book is our great God Himself, and His narrative of redemption truly is the greatest story ever told. But it is also the greatest possible story that ever could be told. And we get to be a part of it.

It ultimately has the worst possible bad news and the best possible good news. Considering its scope and magnitude, a greater plot could not be conceived. The development of it is beyond our best imaginations, and the depth of the story is outside the reach of our current understanding. The beautiful inefficiency of God’s providence, directing the course of history as no human mind ever would or could, keeps us continually on the edge of our seats. But when history comes to a close, all loose ends will be tied up, and the ending will not disappoint. It will far exceed even our wildest imaginations. The more we catch glimpses into the story’s unfolding here and now, the more we are amazed. When one day we lay hold of the final picture, with new bodies and minds fit for such an occasion, we will be overcome with explosive joy. And we will continue to be blown away for all eternity.

The eyes of our hearts were meant to stand at the foothills of this majestic mountain of a story and stand in exultant wonder. This is the reality our hearts are longing for. Nothing could be more entertaining, and no story could be more satisfying.

Sadly, though, we so often turn from this story and trade its glory for far less. We have an instinctive itch for the ultimate narrative, but we attempt to scratch it by anything and everything else. We engorge ourselves on all other forms of entertainment daily in hopes of satisfying this desire, but we are constantly left wanting. Why do we have such a hard time turning the TV off or putting our phones down? Why is our desire for entertainment always so insatiable? Could it be that our souls are actually just hungry for the Gospel? After all, all other stories and forms of entertainment are simply derivative of it. Our entertainment can really only satisfy to the degree that it contains hints and allusions to the true grandeur of God’s Story. Everything else portrays far lesser heroes and disappointingly shallow plots in comparison. Everything else lacks the depth we long for. They are stories and pictures developed only from human minds, whose limitations cannot produce the wonder we truly desire. Their climaxes and endings may sometimes appear grand but are not enough. They fade quickly from our minds. They can do nothing to transform us, or to fulfill us. They are like a gulp of saltwater, which satisfies for a second, and leaves us thirstier than before.

Entertainment in our modern context is one of the biggest and most prevalent forms of idolatry we face. If we can humble ourselves and have eyes to see, our lives could be so much more satisfying. We so often battle boredom when God’s story of redemption, rightly told, could never be at all boring. We are often so scared of having a still and quiet moment– free of stimulation and distraction, where we might actually have to let our minds dwell on the most important realities in life. Because those thoughts may be hard or uncomfortable for some of us, we look for constant means of escape. In doing this, we find ourselves closely mimicking the idolatry of the Old Testament in the Bible. We metaphorically make two-inch-tall wooden carvings to bow down to constantly when indeed we have the God of the universe to worship and enjoy. If we could only see the foolishness of our empty strivings for perpetual entertainment and turn from them. I hope and pray that God will continue to open more of our eyes to the ongoing wonders of His Gospel, and we can be continually captivated by God and His amazing storytelling!

The Mystery of God’s Ways

Our Creator God reveals Himself to us in whatever ways He sees fit.  His ways are not our ways, but in His infinite wisdom, all His ways are perfect and right. Whenever we notice a discrepancy between His ways and our preferences, it is always our own attitude and perspective that needs adjusting. We should not wish His ways to be any different but should only seek to acquire a better understanding of God’s ways and submit to them. In seeking to analyze the methods He chooses to employ in revealing Himself, I believe we can advance our efforts to know Him more intimately as a person. 

            When I am speaking of God’s ways, and suggesting that many would prefer something different, I have in mind the multitude of indirect ways God chooses to teach us about Himself. We like direct. We like straightforward and to the point. In our modern, western context, we often lack the patience to “take the scenic route” regarding new information. With our fast-paced lives and over inflated senses of self-importance, we prefer the quickest and easiest ways to learn, and we often feel entitled to that. This impatience stems from our inordinate focus on ourselves. We are so often preoccupied with establishing our own little earthly kingdoms that we are not willing to take time to ponder and reflect. It is the attitude of: “Why sit through a long, drawn-out presentation when the bullet points could just be sent in an email?”

I think many today have this sort of mindset, knowingly or unknowingly, when it comes to God. We lack the patience and willingness to learn about God through any prolonged process. We find ourselves wishing God would communicate to us in the quickest and easiest methods possible, and we sometimes get frustrated when He doesn’t. This frustration shows itself in multiple ways. It can be seen on one hand in unbelievers who question the existence of God. They may complain that God simply doesn’t do enough to directly prove Himself, but that if He were to write a message in the sky or appear to them in a vision, then they would believe. This frustration is also often felt by believers, though, as well. Believers can find themselves frustrated by the apparent hiddenness of God. When seeking to discern God’s will for their lives, they may prefer a neon arrow floating in the air in front of them, directing them in the way He would have them go. Believers may also, in seeking to know God more personally, prefer that He speak to them daily in an audible voice. That would sure make getting to know God a lot easier, right?

He doesn’t seem to usually do things this way, though. It is not as though He couldn’t. He certainly could if He wanted to. God’s ways can be very peculiar, and I can’t put anything outside the realm of possibility for Him, but it seems pretty evident that these things are not exactly His standard practice. 

I believe there is a fair amount of biblical evidence to suggest God usually prefers to teach us things indirectly, and that He ascribes value to doing things that way. He doesn’t always simply tell us things. He usually gives images, illustrations, and experiences to teach us things. He gave us a physical world through which we understand spiritual realities.  We have physical life and death, so that we can understand spiritual life and death. We hunger and thirst physically, so we can better understand the deep longing of our souls being satisfied in God. We labor physically and get tired, so we can appreciate and relate to the spiritual rest that God gives. We have families and close relationships, so we can better understand the relational harmony within the triune God. Everything God created physically was made with purpose, and that purpose is to show us more of God. The physical world is a teacher. The birds, the trees, the flowers, the grass, the wind, the sky, the rocks, the mountains, and even the ants are loaded with meaning by which we comprehend great truths about our lives and about our Creator. 

Of course, He also does teach us directly enough, yet it is still more indirect than we might prefer. He has given us the Bible. He may not speak audibly to most, but He has provided us with an extensive collection of His written words to tell us all we need to know. His written words in the Bible then help us to unlock the mysteries of knowledge that He has woven into all His creation. In summary, He has primarily given us two main avenues for learning—creation and His written Word. Theologians often refer to these as the Book of Nature and the Book of Scripture. Both are books– indirect teachers. Both are ways of God taking His truths and translating them through various mediators, to then be read and interpreted by us. So, we better be willing to read. These are the main ways we have to learn about God, so it seems that these indirect learning methods may just be God’s preference for us. There must be value to doing things this way. 

God is a creative teacher. He knows how we learn best, and He knows what is necessary for the truth to really settle into us and impact us. By living and breathing the truth, by reading it, by tasting and touching it, and experiencing it, this must be a much better way for us to learn it. When we make all the rightful connections– between the spiritual truth we read in His Word and the life that we experience, we have faith.  Faith is the sort of spiritual sight that God gives us to be able to see the unseen– to connect the dots He has woven through the spiritual and the physical. Faith is what happens when we actually learn from all that God is trying to teach us, and it becomes real for us. As believers, we walk by faith and not by sight. And the glory in all of these things is that they only have to be learned indirectly for a time. The day will come for all of us when we will know all these things directly, with unveiled faces. One day, we will see Him face to face, and our eyes will be fully opened. Everything we have learned about God indirectly will be fully displayed before the eyes of our hearts. Our faith will be made sight!

God’s Use of Storytelling

Until that final day when we meet Him face to face, we must work with the devices He has given us to learn. Not only do we have to, but we get to. He owes us none of this grace and is under no obligation to reveal a single thing about Himself. We should rejoice in all the ways we do get to experience and know God while we are here on earth! 

The all-encompassing way God has chosen to teach us is through a story, and He has made us a part of the story. The Bible is a single ongoing story of God’s work of redemption for us. The Story of Redemption unfolds for us in long-form how God made us to be in relationship with Him, we rebelled and rejected Him, and He has been gracious and loving toward us despite our rebellion. In His amazing grace, He has made a way for us to be brought back into a right relationship with Him– if we grab hold of it. In all of this, He has given us a story by which we can understand a person. To make things even a little easier on us, this story has a main character, whose specific purpose is to show us what God is like. Though the Bible is clear that the physical world God made was already enough for us to know His essential nature and existence by, He has given us so much more. He has given us written words detailing the events of this ongoing story and even allows us to experience the story firsthand. This is exceedingly more than we deserve. The fact that the story has a main character, Jesus, who enters into the story in real time, and is Himself God, is just piling grace upon grace in our efforts to know God better. Not only is Jesus the main character, but He says in John 5:39 and Luke 24:27 that the whole Bible is essentially about him. Simply put, knowing and understanding God’s Story of Redemption, and therefore knowing Jesus, is our preeminent way to know Him personally. And our souls depend on it. 

Appreciating God’s Storytelling

I believe if we ponder God’s use of storytelling and think a little more deeply about its ramifications, we will see so much beauty and wisdom therein. I hope to be able to provide some perspective that will help you greatly appreciate this method of God’s revelation and to not wish that He would do it any other way. 

            Like I’ve argued already, much of the beauty and glory of God revealing Himself through a story lies within the indirect nature of this revelation. I believe he has hardwired us in such a way that we genuinely long for this. We love stories. We love well-crafted narratives. We love when a writer or a filmmaker can develop complex, versatile characters and a well-thought-out plotline. We actually prefer when an author knows how to do this indirectly. We get bored easily when they fail to do this. We don’t always want the character profiles or plot lines to be explained to us explicitly and directly. A good author or filmmaker knows how to develop characters through their interactions within the story and how to establish a captivating plot as they gradually unfold it. This appears, perhaps, to be the same manner God has employed, and He does it to perfection.  Throughout the Bible, we are progressively clued in as the story unfolds about its purpose, why the story is unfolding the way it is, and where the story is finally heading. Anticipation builds along the way. Many vital characters are introduced and none without specific purpose. There is much use of foreshadowing. Through prophecy and divinely ordained subplots, everything is pointing toward the pinnacle of the story, heightening its climax. Everything leading up to this pinnacle was pointing forward to it, and everything coming after points back to it. 

The pinnacle of the story is God Himself entering into the story in real time as the man Christ Jesus and giving up His own life, so that true life could be given to all who believe and trust in Him. The essence of this true life that has been bought for us is that we have eyes to truly see and comprehend this unfolding story for what it is. True life– everlasting life, is getting to know the storyteller behind the story. It is also being given the opportunity to rejoice in ways yet unknown when the story finally reaches its conclusion. True life for all eternity will be forever rejoicing over this glorious narrative. We will forever expand our knowledge of the depths of the story and the depths of the storyteller’s greatness and not get bored of it. 

            We would not go to a movie at the local theater if the movie’s ending was fully explained and portrayed on the screen within the first five minutes. That would ruin the story and strip the rest of it of its meaning and impact. I believe that perhaps God also reasons this way with the use of His storytelling. The goal of the movie-going experience is not only to be entertained throughout but to be blown away and impacted by the ending when it is finally revealed. All the suspense and unpredictability of the story along the way only adds to that end.  It provides the depth and weight necessary for the final scenes to actually mean something– to pack a real punch. We involve ourselves emotionally with the story and its purpose and develop a vested interest in witnessing the story play out. Another aspect that makes the suspense and fear-of-unknown in a cinematic masterpiece enjoyable to sit through, and not genuinely frightening, is that we fully believe the ending of the movie will make it all worthwhile. The ending will tie it all back together, providing relief from that tension. We usually have full confidence when we watch a movie that the ending will be good. It will justify the whole experience. We usually hope it will be impactful and leave a mark on us. We have an instinctive desire to be deeply moved by storytelling that we just can’t seem to shake. I think this is good, and I believe God put that within us for a reason. 

Experiencing This Story as Believers

As believers, we should always live like the people joyfully trotting into the unknown of an intense movie experience with the solace of being greatly comforted by the movie’s end. Our problem, unfortunately, is all too often we live as though we are unaware of how the story will end. We act so often as if the ending is not going to be good, or as good as we hope, or that the ending is not going to justify all our experiences along the way.  We dishonor God with our attitudes and our hearts when we lose sight of the bigger picture and the story’s purpose. We become so downtrodden and distressed when our little part in this story begins to take some seemingly unfortunate turns. We can often behave like someone who goes to a movie and becomes genuinely distressed when the plot thickens, even getting angry at the filmmaker. They may even want to walk out of the movie theater. We know that would be a silly thing to do, but we often behave just as irrationally about our lives. The difference between this movie illustration I’m using and our actual lives is that most of the time movie-goers are actually oblivious to the ending of the film they are attending. They just hope the ending will be worth their time out of blind faith. We do not have blind faith as believers. We know exactly how the story ends, from the mouth of the storyteller Himself. And the ending of the story which we await is the best possible ending of any story ever. Why, then, do we essentially live so much of our lives irrationally like we do? It is because we so often forget the story in which we are all involved. We forget there is an amazing storyteller behind all this who is altogether wise and loving toward us. We forget He has our good in mind with every little detail He implemented in the story. We forget about His good purposes and designs in doing everything He does. Being mindful of the greater story and of the goodness of the storyteller is the substance of our faith. Being faithful is acting rationally considering all that has been revealed about this unfolding story. The object of our faith is the storyteller, and the joy that drives us toward the grand finale is the reality that one day we will get to see our Savior face to face, knowing Him fully and being fully known.

The Story’s Immersive Experience

I think that most, if not all of us, have had a certain type of longing toward our favorite stories. Whether it is a favorite book, favorite movie, or favorite tv show, I think we have all at some point had a desire to enter into one of them. Maybe you don’t experience this as much as an adult, but certainly you did as a child. It’s very common for children to daydream about being a part of their favorite story or having their favorite story come to life before their eyes. We do this as kids, but I think we also do it as adults more than we admit. We binge watch our favorite shows as a way of escape from everyday life. We enrapture ourselves in sporting events, hoping they will immerse us in a reality filled with the kind of glory that satisfies. But why do we want to be a part of a different reality than our own? What are we trying to escape from? Do we really think these other stories and experiences of mere men have more to offer us than the great narrative of God? If we indeed find within ourselves a wish to enter into a compelling story or alternative reality, we must remind ourselves that our wish has already been granted. What could be more compelling than the reality in which we already exist? Escapism is foolishness. We not only get to witness God’s great story, but we all get to participate in it as it continues to unfold. What could be cooler than that? What could be more satisfying? Everything we do in this life has lasting significance, because the story continues into eternity. We get to have a real impact on the story as we partner with the storyteller and submit to Him, allowing Him to work through our own lives to carry out important details and subplots. Also, as we submit to the storyteller, we become more like Him and acquire a greater vision of the story’s purpose. We should be always embracing this opportunity, seeking to more fully understand the weight and significance of our lives.

            In addition to people wishing favorite stories could become realities, there is another phenomenon closely related to this. It is common to wish a favorite book would be turned into a movie. Often, once we have fallen in love with a book and have it all played out in our minds, we dream of how satisfying it would be for a movie to be made about it. We also want the movie, then, to accurately meet our mental expectations. This wish is practically never fulfilled for those who have it, because the translation of a book into a movie is almost never executed well. Often it is attempted by someone other than the original author of the book, and there is much disconnect in the story’s vision. Just once, could we see this executed properly? Of course, this actually has happened, and will continue to happen for us as long as we live! In our case, though, there is no disconnect between the book and the movie. They have the very same author. There is also no worry that one was an afterthought of the other, since both existed together in the mind of the author since either’s inception. This is the one “movie” that will never disappoint or turn out to be untrue to the original script. Every single word of the book has played out and will play out exactly as written before our very eyes.

Boredom?

If all this is true, and it is, then why do we battle boredom? Why do we seek to alleviate our boredom by all the wrong means? There is always something new to be learned about the storyteller in each and every moment of our lives, so we never truly have a reason to struggle with boredom. When we are bored, it is because we have forgotten the grand, unfolding story in which we are all a part. We have forgotten that the storyteller behind all of this is just as intimately involved in each second of our own lives as he is the broader, ongoing story. 

God is infinite, which means He is not divisible in any sense. Besides the fact that He exists outside of time, not bound by the sequential experience of events like the rest of us, His attention to us is by no means split up. His attention is indivisible. Even though there are billions of people on the planet, God is not struggling to pay attention to all of our lives concurrently. He has his full attention on each and every human equally. All of us get all of God all the time. We can never think as though He is missing something in our lives or that some particular stretch of 5 minutes passed Him by unnoticed. Even when we are sitting on a park bench alone or waiting for our kids in the carpool line, that moment still has purpose and design. Think, what is God trying to teach me right now? We don’t do this or lose sight of this and spend the vast majority of our lives blind to God’s active involvement in them, which leaves us restless and prone to boredom.

 I truly believe continual communion with God and a recognition of his constant involvement in our lives can cure us from boredom. It can also greatly free us from the depression, anxiety, and hopelessness that plague so many of our lives. How can we truly be anxious or depressed when we know the God who runs the world is with us and cares deeply for us?  After all, communion with God, and seeking His continual presence is not only interesting and fascinating, but it also should be immensely pleasurable and joyful. Psalm 16:11 assures us that in God’s presence there is fullness of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

The issue of boredom may not be directly addressed in the Bible, in the sense that the Bible mentions “boredom”, using that word specifically. It just as well may, though. The Bible talks in many places about vanity, and what really is vanity? Webster’s dictionary defines vanity as something that is vain, empty, or valueless. This is a topic the Bible certainly touches on.  Not only does the bible address vanity in many places, but it also practically has a whole book dedicated to it– Ecclesiastes. In this book, Solomon sought out everything the world had to offer, with all its splendor and appeal. He entertained himself by every means possible and finally determined that all of it was ultimately empty. Or you could say, boring. He tried out everything life had to offer, to its fullest extent, and everything was determined to be… profoundly boring. This demonstrates our problem, though. This is what happens when we fail to rightly connect all of life back to God and his grand story. But most of us have never come to the end of ourselves and discovered how much we strive after the wind. We refuse to admit to ourselves that the things we are chasing are not satisfying. We constantly must fight the urge to want lives of consumption and excess. We’ve heard about God’s Gospel numerous times, yet we refuse to explore its real substance. We refuse to go to His unending well and drink deeply from His living water. We refuse to be entertained by the most entertaining story that exists. We idolize so many other things at the cost of our own joy and fulfillment. We so often live as fools. 

In Conclusion

If we find ourselves struggling to find satisfaction and purpose in our day-to-day life, and we also tend to focus much of our schedules around our entertainment, perhaps we should ask ourselves if these things are connected. We have greater access and consumption of entertainment than everyone who has ever lived, and yet we do not find ourselves any more happy or joyful consistently because of it. Despite our modern luxuries of entertainment, we are some of the most purposeless, unfulfilled, and anxious people that have ever lived. Believers are not immune to this. What I am not saying here is that all entertainment is sinful. It’s not. It isn’t wrong to go to the movies, turn on Netflix, or watch sports, but we must be continually analyzing our motives and the roles these things play in our lives. If we continually seek out these activities, primarily spending most of our precious free time on them, what is our genuine purpose in doing so? If they are simply a way for our minds to escape from the hum drum we perceive most of life to be, that is actually a serious problem. If our entertainment consumption is legitimately where we find our greatest joys in life, that is an even bigger problem. 

All of life has purpose. God has not placed any precious minutes in your life to be wasted. Everything in life either draws us closer to God or pushes us further away. There is no in between. If we are daily engaging with our entertainment as a means of escapism, it is pushing us further away from God. If we run to our entertainment to truly obtain our greatest joys from it– giving it our worship, we are sprinting away from God. Don’t get me wrong, entertainment can be worshipful, even some secular entertainment. But it all depends on how we use it. Do we ever come to our entertainment with a heart that wants to worship God? Do we try to approach our favorite movies and shows seeking to understand better why we are drawn to them in the first place? Every good story and piece of entertainment is only good, because they are plucking the various strings in our hearts that were made for that very purpose. We were designed to be captivated by great stories. But there is an ultimate fulfillment to it all. One day, for all who eagerly anticipate it, all the strings of our hearts will be gloriously played together in a way that will cause every fiber of our being to radiate with joy. 

Everything evil will be defeated. Everything good will be exalted. The powers of good really will triumph over the powers of evil. Everything sad will become untrue. The superhero really will come back to save the world. The king really will return to claim his rightful throne. The once unlikely bride really will get the wedding of her dreams. The master storyteller will tie up all the loose ends. Justice will prevail. Happily ever after will be real.

God’s story of redemption is a masterpiece from the infinite mind of an infinite God. God made us and knows exactly what it is that our souls long for. I would argue that in meticulous detail, He has crafted the very narrative our souls are seeking. He Himself, being the very heart of the story, is the object which our souls were made for. His ways are so far above our ways, and His thoughts so far beyond ours, but we were designed to love and enjoy that. We were made to worship. We were made to stand in awe of something so much bigger and beyond us that it threatens to break us apart at the seams. We were made to fall down and worship at His feet. God has revealed Himself to us through His long-form storytelling, meaning to captivate us and draw us continually toward Him. If we could only just grab hold of that which our hearts are searching for and not let go of it, life could be so much different. I pray that as you are reading this, God is pulling at your heart and impressing upon you that He is exactly what you want. He is exactly the thing your heart is ever searching for and never finding anywhere else. We have everything we ever want and need in Him. We have more than enough to be fascinated and captivated by every single second of our lives if we just live with our eyes open. 

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the ESV® Bible.