Is there anything you’re completely terrified of? I mean — just the thought of it & anxiety floods your whole body?
For my son Will, for whatever reason, he is deathly afraid of pulling his teeth when they are loose. He’s at that age where he’s losing his baby teeth. So they start to get loose, start to wiggle. You remember when you were this age? And when you pull them out you put them under your pillow & who shows up? That’s right. This mystical creature called the Tooth Fairy.
Most kids I know are excited when they get a loose tooth. And they can’t wait to pull it out so the tooth fairy will come. Not Will!
So for literally weeks now he’s had this one loose tooth. He won’t even let me touch it much less pull it. His teeth have to practically fall out on their own! To be honest, this whole thing drives me crazy. I’m like, what are you afraid of?
Then the other night I got home late & I go into his room to check on him. He’s fast asleep. With his mouth wide open. So what did I do? I couldn’t help myself. I took one finger & reached into his mouth to push that loose tooth & see if it would come out. And it did! I grabbed it & ran back to our room to show Alisha. But then Will woke up & came walking into our room! He was like, “Dad, I lost my tooth!” I said, “Really? How did that happen?”
He said, “I just wiggled it & it came out!” I said, “Where is it?” He said, “I don’t know!”
So I secretly put the tooth in my hand & took him to his room to find the missing tooth! He’s looking all around his bed, under his pillow & the covers. I drop the tooth on the carpet by his bed & told him to look on the floor! He was so excited when he found it.
In his version of the story, he wiggled his tooth, it fell out & got lost. We found it together & put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy to find.
In reality what happened was that I pulled his tooth out while he was sleeping. Then he woke up & discovered it was missing. I put it on the floor for him to find.
So there’s really two stories at work here. There’s the story that my son came up with to explain how his tooth came out. And there’s what really happened! (I’m hoping he won’t read this blog till he’s much older:)
In all of our lives there are two stories playing out. One is what we think is going on. We all have our own ideas & perceptions about how things are. Its our nature to take a look around & figure out what’s going on. What’s happening around us & to us. And as we do this we craft a story – it’s the story we live in & operate out of. But there’s another story. Many times we’re completely unaware of it. It’s a bigger story. A better story. A truer story. And if we can catch a glimpse of this story – a story of radical & unconditional love – it has the potential to change everything for us. I wish more of us would step into the better story. The true story of God’s love for us.
The problem is that for most of us – we can only see what’s directly in front of us. We can’t step back & see the bigger picture.
It’s like we take the camera & zoom in as close as possible. When you do that you can only see a fraction of the picture. But when you zoom all the way out, you can see everything. You can see the larger context. You can see a fuller view of all that’s going on. So many times we live life with the zoom so tight we can’t see anything else.
Have you ever flown on a plane? Isn’t it amazing what the earth looks like from a few thousand feet up in the air? You can see complete cities. Road systems. Rivers. Coastlines. Mountain ranges & more. Stuff you could never see with your feet planted on solid ground. But when you go up you can see more all at once.
I wish for you that every once in a while you could take a step back, or maybe 10 steps back, & see the larger picture of what’s going on in your life. You may feel consumed with your current situation. Your current struggle. The family problem that is happening right now. What’s about to happen in a few weeks when you go back to school, etc. But I want you to see, to catch a glimpse of the fact that there’s a bigger story at work in your life. Sometimes you may worry about the future. That’s because you can only see what’s directly in front of you. And you feel out of control when it comes to your circumstances & the uncertainty of the future.
All summer long we’ve been walking through Ephesians with our youth group. And one of the things Paul wants to do is to remind his friends in Ephesus that there’s a larger story at work. There’s a bigger picture. There’s more going on & more at work than they are aware of. Here’s what Paul shared with them.
Ephesians 2:1-10; 3:18…
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
Can you hear the bigger story? Can you get a sense for the bigger picture?
This is your story. You were dead. And Christ made you alive! It’s not that you were bad & Jesus made you better. You were dead & Christ has made you alive. Christ made you alive because he loves you deeply. He made you alive, united you with himself, saved you… all because of His great love for you.
This is the larger story that you & I live out of. The story that we were once dead but now we are fully alive & we are deeply loved by Jesus Christ. Regardless of our present circumstances, struggles, sin, shame, guilt, problems, worries or fears… we are saved & we are loved.
You see, perfection is impossible, unattainable. Only one man ever did it & we named this whole thing after Him. Christianity is based on the fact that Christ was perfect in our place. And now Christ lives in us. Making us spiritually alive. We are not perfect. But He is perfect in us & when we stand before God we who are alive in Christ are made perfect because of Christ. I know this may seem confusing. And I don’t mean to confuse you. I hope to encourage you. Because God isn’t calling you to the perfect life. He’s calling you to live & abide in His great love for you.
God is calling us to step into the better story. The true story of God’s love for us. He wants you to know how high, how wide, how long & how deep his love really is! He wants you to know that you are saved & you are loved. If Jesus Christ is your Lord & Savior you get to live in this story. This story of God’s great love for you. And it’s the best story ever!
