Friday, September 20, 2013

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September 20, 2013    Chris Wolfe

 

In The Return of the King, the third book of Tolkien's Lord of the Ring trilogy, Sam says, " What a tale we've been in, Mr. Frodo, haven't we?... I wish I could hear it told!... And I wonder how it will go on after our part."  What a tale, indeed!  And that's the whole point: If I really open my eyes, I find myself in a much, much larger Story, which started at the beginning of time. Like Sam, I also wonder how it will go on after my part.   If the Book of Acts is simply the first chapter of the History of the Church (which is not the beginning of the Story), then we are about the 400th chapter of Acts. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the petty details of my day-to-day living, that I lose sight of the bigger Story.

"In the beginning, God created the Heaven and Earth." Everything hinges on this.  Either God created everything, or He didn't.  If He created, He had a reason, and the Bible makes abundantly clear that God's reason for creating us was have a relationship with us.

Once upon a time, I was a Biology Major, steeped in the "Scientific Method", the objective inquiry into the world around us.  A fundamental tenet of the Scientific Method is the understanding that my conclusions can only be as accurate as my presuppositions.  In other words, if my presumptions that I bring to my "experiment" are wrong already, my conclusions will necessarily be in error.   

If I correctly understand and believe that I am living in a world created by God, and that I am created by God because He wants to draw me to Himself, that presupposition affects my conclusions, my behaviors, my relationships, my emotions, my values, my goals, my purpose, everything. It gives me a reason for being!  If, on the other hand, I incorrectly presuppose that there is no God, then there is no larger Story, because there is no Storyteller. All my actions will be based on a false understanding of my relationship to the world, and the whole concept of "purpose in life" evaporates. There is no purpose because there is no larger Story.  


Prayer:  "Lord, help me to understand Your larger Story and my part in it.  May I live the life You created me to live, so that Your kingdom may come and Your will be done on earth, as it already is in heaven.  Amen."


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