revelation, pt. 4 (Why You Should Read Bedtime Stories to Your Kids)

From my perception of things, it has been a popular thing to speak about life and theology in terms of a story. I appreciate this.

I think it is good that Louie Giglio has emphasized to thousands and thousands of college students that they need to find their story within the larger story of what Christ is doing.

It think it is good that so many narrative theologians (Stanley Hauerwas, Hans Frei, and others) have emphasized that the Gospel is shared as a story rather than systematic outlines or propositions.

I think C. S. Lewis’s metaphor of comparing God’s sovereign hand and man’s free agency to an author writing a story in which characters freely act could be a helpful way to think through some of the difficulties of that centuries-old discussion (yeah, that’s a long sentence).

I can relate to G. K. Chesterton’s statement, “I had always felt life first as a story, and if there is a story, there must be a Storyteller.”

Thinking of life in terms of a story is good and I think it is a natural way to think about life. I tend to think of my life in terms of chapters. I also see my tendency to view my story as a sad one, as a tragedy of sorts. Consequently, I find that I then determine to play the part of the tragic hero resulting in drama, but rarely anything good.

I was recently challenged when an older, wiser man told me, “You cannot read your own story. You will always deceive yourself into reading and writing the story the way you want it to be.” He made this remark within the context of arguing that we all need a measure of accountability. We need someone who can help us read the story of our lives properly. Thus, it is important for us to have someone in our lives that knows us well and is deeply involved in what we do and who we are. I find that this is a point that makes a lot of sense.

As I have been thinking through the book of Revelation, I was reminded of the words of this older man about reading my story. This is because Revelation is emphatic that Christ is both the beginning and end of the story.

He is the “first and the last” (Revelation 1:17; 2:8; 22:13).

He is also described as the “Alpha and Omega” (1:8; 21:6). This is another way of saying that Christ is the first and the last using the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Isn’t it interesting that this is a description rooted in the very building blocks (the letters of the alphabet) of written communication?

Christ is the “beginning and the end” (21:6). The story of history begins with Christ and it ends with Christ. The story of all that exists is rooted in Him and finds its consummation in Him.

This is exactly the sort of commentary and perspective I need on my story. My story finds its place within the greater context of the story about Christ. The narrative of my story, on a smaller scale, also finds its beginning in Christ and its end in Christ.

Revelation is not only a book about the end. It is also a book about the story of history from beginning to end. This is because it is a book about Christ. As Christians we can have faith and confidence about the end because Christ is there. Just as I find Him in the beginning of my story as my Creator, and just as I find Him at the beginning of the story of the new and redeemed me as my Savior, so also will I find Him in the end of my story when He will be revealed as the conquering Lord.

That should give me a godly confidence. It is a confidence that does not see this life as a tragic personal story, but rather as a tale of cosmic victory.

"The whole story is the meaning, because it is an experience, not an abstraction."
Flannery O'Connor