Only the Author Can Say Why and Who

Your life is a sub-narrative of the greatest story

The word “author” — meaning “to originate” — comes from “authority.” Authors are the ultimate authorities on their creations.

“For you granted him authority… I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.’’ (John 17:2–5 NIV).

Science explains much, but only authors can say why something occurs or identify who their stories are for and about. Only the author can tell you the intended point and purpose, what their creation is designed to mean.

Meaning is imperative: Why is this happening?

“The world is suddenly keen on storytelling,” Jonathan Pageau writes in Evangelization Culture. “While modern scientists and philosophers are wrestling with questions of complexity and emergence, meaning is reappearing as imperative for the world’s existence…

“The Christian story presents itself once again as the only viable solution… the only meta-narrative that makes sense of it all.”

Every routine was disrupted in 2020, making us question meanings:

• Every gift received or taken away was questioned.
• Do your priorities matter once they’ve been ruled “non-essential?”
• Why work when you are paid to stay at home?

Pastor John Piper adds: “Every day, the world takes another step away from God’s truth and into greater moral and spiritual relativism. If your view of life is fed by a steady diet of television news and popular opinion, you’ll find yourself starved, parched, and confused.’’

Faith teaches everything (except our own sin) is a gift. But what if you’ve forgotten?

If we believe God isn’t real, then nothing has meaning — we can follow routines of our own making. But if God is real, then everything and everyone has deep meaning because we are all His creation, part of His Story.

Authors set priorities, create characters, symbols

Authors create and transform cultures with stories. Culture means “the cult of what you worship,” meaning whatever you place above all else on your priority list becomes your “god,” the one thing you cherish and can’t give up.

Many Christians learn those priorities as the JOY method (Jesus, Others, Yourself), putting Jesus first, others second, and yourself third. The world and the Liar tell us to reverse the order, to put ourselves first, others second and Jesus last.

Suddenly, God and all who came before, our very history and birthright, are under attack. And our very sense of self?

“Those who control the symbols of political discourse can dominate the culture and control the collective consciousness,’’ Andrew A. Michta, explains in The Wall Street Journal. “If you doubt this, ask yourself why there has been so little backlash from ordinary, non-elite Americans. Our sense of self has been progressively deconstructed.

“We feel in our bones the wrongness of the violence being visited on the nation but lack the language to speak against it.”

If you deny or never knew God and even history, someone or something else takes their place at the top of your life’s priority list.

If you don’t believe in a devil or demons, then someone else (presumably an adversary on the other side) becomes your new devil or “worst person in the world.”

But if you put God first and the demons last as you write your stories and live your life, the whole story changes.

“And the Lord answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.’” (Habakkuk 2:2 ESV).

Stories offer structure, meaning — hope and a life purpose

In every story, including every book or film, we know the author has a plan and purpose, that the story will go the way it’s meant to go. So hope remains.

In old Western films, they called this the cavalry coming to the rescue just as all seemed lost. But something similar happens in nearly every story.

Non-believers tend to worry more than believers, unclear why they are suffering. Believers are more likely to trust that everything happens for a reason, God’s Plan. If you believe in Jesus, you grow confident He’ll be there.

As John Lennon said: “Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end.”

Our little stories are sub-narratives buried within His Story, aka history. How much better can our stories be if we start our day in prayer, asking our Lord to make us a pencil in His Hands? To show us The Way?

“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches,’’ (Revelation 1:11 ESV).

If you don’t know where you come from, you don’t know where you’re going. But suddenly, we question all of our past actions. An Illinois lawmaker called for a halt on the teaching of history classes.

When God is deleted or forgotten, ideologies can become new false idols, the reason George Orwell warned in “1984,” of a future when:

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered… History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present…”

Most cultures condemn, denounce and banish enemies and scapegoats but Jesus called for something never tried before (and seldom tried since):

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,’’ (Matthew 5:44, NIV).

Yet, Christians are taught the 10 Commandments are written in order of priority — it’s why the first three are about putting the true God first (ahead of all the false idols, distractions). That’s why the fourth commandment focuses on respect for where we came from, the only commandment with a promise.

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12, NIV).

Seventy years after the debut of “Sunset Boulevard,” The Guardian argues we’re all behaving like the Norma Desmond character of that classic film, “at a time when visibility has been weaponized as a tool of social change.” They say the “old Hollywood’’ story has become “a whole cultural ethos that values ‘being seen.’”

Our friend in Greenville, South Carolina, Dwight Longenecker, the charismatic evangelical who is now also a Catholic priest, writes about concerns, “We’re in a 16th-century situation,” a time of revolution and reform. How will we face the challenges of our times?

“Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.” (Revelation 1:19 ESV).