Everybody loves a good story, and I have heard many over my lifetime. My mom started reading to me before I could even talk. She started me out on the Little Golden Books and Dr. Seuss. Later she read me chapter books such as “The Little House on the Prairie” series. I loved snuggling next to her and listening as she brought each story to life.
Her mom told me stories as well, although she rarely read to me from books. Instead, Grandma made up fictitious stories which always included my sister and me. We thought that was great!
When I was old enough to sit still, Mom and Dad sent me to Sunday school. I loved the way my teachers shared stories by sticking shepherds and fluffy sheep on flannelgraph boards.
My teachers also read stories to give us a break from our hard work in grade school. Our minds would take us on big adventures while we listened over milk and cookies.
When I got a little older, I was invited to slumber parties where friends told ghost stories that caused us to “sleep” with the lights on. I preferred the “Dumb Ronda” stories my friend’s older sister, Ronda, would tell us when she came home from her dates. She was funny.
Yes. I’ve heard so many good stories over the years told in many different ways, but the greatest story I’ve ever heard is God’s story. The story began thousands of years ago, but it never gets old. In fact, the story grows more fascinating and more meaningful each time I read it. It’s a true, action-packed love story about God’s pursuit for lost and hurting people.
The story begins with God simply speaking all of creation into existence with His words, “Let there be….” He created a man and a woman and placed them in a beautiful garden where they had everything they could ever desire. He even walked with them and talked with them! But then, they disobeyed the one rule He gave them, and their eyes were opened to their nakedness and sin. God punished them by banishing them from the garden. Yet He extended his grace by covering their nakedness with animal skins.
After that, the battle with sin raged on. The trouble with sin is that it separates us from God, our Creator who is holy and perfect.
Over and over in God’s story, His people would turn away from Him to worship idols and to indulge in self-gratification. They’d forget their need for God and try doing things their own way. Eventually, they would become miserable and cry out for God to save them. They’d vow to obey Him, and things would go well when they did, but then they’d go astray again.
The cycle of obedience with blessing and disobedience with punishment kept repeating. No one could fully obey God’s rules. So, God promised salvation through a Messiah. He vowed to give His people a new heart and to put His Spirit inside them so that they could follow His ways.
More than 700 years after that prophecy, a young virgin named Mary gave birth to Jesus, the promised Messiah. The Bible records story after story about Jesus’ wisdom, compassion and love. He healed the sick and gave sight to the blind. He fed 5000 people by blessing and dividing just five loaves of bread and two fish. He ate with the sinners and offered living water to those who were thirsty. “Follow me,” He said over and over again.
While Jesus lived here on earth, He was tempted with sin just as we are, but He never gave in to those temptations. He kept all the rules that we could never keep. And then, because we are sinners and because the penalty for sin is death and eternal separation from God and because God loves us, Jesus took our punishment for us.
Jesus was wrongly accused, ridiculed, mocked, spat upon, beaten and finally put to death on a cross. He deserved none of it, but, “God wants no one to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God’s story doesn’t end with Jesus’ death on the cross. After three days, Jesus came back to life. He conquered sin, He conquered death, He made a way for us to have eternal life in heaven.
After His resurrection, Jesus instructed His followers, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:19-20). Then He returned to heaven to be with God the Father, and sent the Holy Spirit to live in those who believe.
The followers did as Jesus commanded, and thousands more believed and followed. They risked their lives when the religious leaders who didn’t believe tried to stop them. Some died because they refused to stop following and refused to stop sharing the truth.
The last story in the Bible is a vision about the future when Jesus will return and put an end to evil. Those who have believed and followed Him will find eternal life in heaven where there will be no more tears, pain or suffering. Those who have not chosen to believe and follow will suffer eternal torment and separation from God.
The Bible is a true story about God’s love for us, but the story doesn’t stop there. God continues to write his amazing love story today through you, me and all of the believers.
When Jesus touches us in a deep and personal way, we just can’t keep from sharing it with others. We want everyone to know how awesome He is and to find the salvation, comfort, healing, joy and peace that we have in Him. We understand the urgency of telling others about His story because we know that He could return at any moment.
Everybody loves a good story, and God’s story is the greatest of all. Don’t be afraid to share it. It’s the most important story you can tell.