Stories of redemption
How Christians understand God’s will through the stories we tell about him
Just before I started writing this post, I sat down in front of my computer and removed my glasses. I have made a habit of leaving microfiber cloths by my computers at home and work because my glasses collect dust and splashes of water or coffee or beer as I live my life. Microfiber cloths are the best tool I have to remove the things that obstruct me from seeing clearly.
Jesus knew that believers who came after him would need a tool to remove the things that obstruct them from seeing him clearly, like daily worries and busyness. I believe he understood better than anyone the universal power of a story and an example to remind Christians of the truth of God’s purpose.
Humans learn by analogy. Stories provide a way for humans to empathize with others, often in ways that encourage and inspire people to be better. The story I told in the first paragraph provides an image which I hope will serve as an example for the purpose I have written this article: to put into words how the world can understand the will of God by looking to Jesus as the example of God’s plan of redemption from sin, and how telling this story over and over is the tool Jesus has given believers so that they will not lose heart.
A believer will never get over the beauty of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the ultimate example of God’s redemptive love.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
How do believers tell this story?
All stories have a beginning. Some start with the creation account. Others might simply examine the world in its current state. Regardless how the story starts, the bad news is always the same: humans have failed.
All stories have a middle. Every person will choose to indulge their selfish desires to the harm of someone else. I am not a parent, but I have been a child and I have seen some of my peers become parents. It is apparent that every child will make a decision that is entirely selfish and inconsiderate of the rest of the world. It’s in our nature to look out for our own interests above others; it will always follow that someone else will be harmed by our actions if we continue to live this way.
What a believer understands is that the result of this nature is a destruction of humanity’s relationship with its creator God. God did not create us to be selfish to the harm of one another: in fact, God is so good that the selfishness and rejection of him means humans are doomed to live apart from him. Death is the consequence of the sinful nature.
I would use the word forever to describe the separation of death, except I know the next part of the story. Likewise, I would say all stories have an end, but I’m not sure this one does. History has not ended; can I say that God’s redemptive work is complete? Of course not! The story of redemption, though, draws to a natural conclusion: “something to hang your hat on,” as I’ve heard my pastor say.
There is an opportunity for someone who understands the consequences of the sinful nature to redeem their right standing with the God who created the world.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life. This is the good news every believer wants to desperately remember and to tell to those who have no hope. To be redeemed by God is to believe that Jesus lived a sinless life, was crucified and died, then was resurrected to demonstrate God’s love for humanity. This hope drives believers to love like Jesus did and to live in right relationship with each other and with God; he showed us how.
Why does God offer redemption to humanity?
It is who he is. It is the nature of a creative God, a God of the living and not of the dead. By understanding and imitating God’s redemptive nature, humans learn to be more like him and to live in joy with him, even in the midst of a world doomed for death.
Understanding the bad news and the good news that Christians include in the story of redemption helps me see clearly the metanarrative that God is weaving throughout all of human history.
God’s will for this world is to redeem humans from their sinful nature through Jesus. When I forget this, it is good for me to sit down, pull out the microfiber cloth of the bible, and remind myself of this eternal purpose by reading the stories of God’s redemption. Christians are still humans, so failure is still in our nature.
But God wants to redeem even those failures into a greater story. How has God redeemed your failures?