Living Your Greatest Story

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”
Prov. 16:9 (NIV)

It’s all about the story…

So says industry-renowned scriptwriter and professor Robert McKee in his acclaimed book, “Story.” Writing to aspiring screenwriters and fiction authors, McKee warns that the most critical component of a fictional script or novel is not its characters, settings, events, or dialogue; it is the storyline itself. Without a well-developed and engaging storyline, even the most intriguing characters eventually fall flat. For the writer, the storyline is what propels his or her work forward, and every character, event and circumstance must tie back to the writer’s ultimate storyline. Though we marvel at our television and movie actors and talk for days about a film’s special effects or humor, in the writer-created fictional world, McKee still asserts: It’s all about the story.

I would like to argue that daily living is also all about the storyline. And in nearly identical manner as the fictional script, every individual, event and circumstance in your life holds immense meaning and purpose. In just a few short minutes I can uncover how your daily existence can open up with such richness and providential purpose that your life will be more dramatic than any character you have ever seen or enjoyed on film or television.

I understand that the last paragraph may sound like rhetoric or hype. In fact, I cannot make these assertions inside the current Christian standard of thought. My claim will not sync with most of Christianity’s currently marketed literature or its weekly teachings. Amidst the sea of books designed to produce your best life now and the countless manuals and sermons unlocking the keys to personal success through Biblical principled living, the materializing theme of 21st century “Christianity” is the effective use of God and His principles to further your personal storyline.

There are countless Christian instructors waiting in the wings to divulge God’s Biblical secrets for achieving personal goals, once a believer has decided the path for his or her life. Skilled teachers stand ready to show the individual how to mine the Bible for the principles necessary to become the best doctor, lawyer, CEO, husband, friend, father, student, ad infinitum, this side of Heaven. In essence, much of 21st century Christianity says that you have a personal storyline, and that God has given you the keys to help fulfill that story, as well as a communication line directly to Him when your story gets rough or confusing. Once a believer has fulfilled his or her personal storyline through the help of Providence and His principles, the ultimate expression of thanks is to give God the final glory.

There is nothing necessarily wrong with this vein of Christian thought. In fact, it must be backed with a hefty amount of Biblical support, or it could not have so many literary advocates. But it is spiritually anemic and personally narcissistic. And it offers little of what the rest of world desperately seeks. Furthermore, it is impossible to make these bold assertions above through the lens of 21st century Christianity; your life can only become as grand as you have the capacity to make it, even with Providence’s help. This is why we idolize screen actors and music artists from the fictional story world, but do not ultimately admire the lives of daily citizens, apart from a few rare pastors, CEOs, and maybe extreme altruists like Bono or Mother Theresa. The story world is far more exciting and expansive than daily existence. This is, in part, why the average American spends 8.1 hours watching television stories instead of cultivating his or her own.

Thankfully, however, there are two ways for a born-again Christian to live. And surprisingly, they are diametrically opposed to each another: *You can either live to insert God into your personal storyline, or you can live in such a manner that God inserts you into His.

The latter choice doesn’t come pre-packaged with nearly as much instructional literature. It is impossible to standardize. There is no exacting formula for inclusion. Although I can’t divulge a formula or standard, I can give you a whole genre that proves its reality and necessity. It is the genre of story and script writing. And by simply dissecting a few standards of story writing through the lens of the true Biblical worldview, I promise you will never see the Creator, the storyline, or yourself in the same way again. And when we are done, you’ll see that the best life you could possibly imagine will pale in comparison to the life that Providence is expectantly waiting to give you. How can I be so sure? Because the radically dynamic, Providentially influenced life you were specifically designed to experience is not just ‘all about the story;’ it’s all about furthering the Creator’s storyline.

STARTING WITH THE FICTIONAL STORY

Let’s begin with a look at one of television’s most dynamic series, the counter-terrorist, real-time thriller 24. Now in its sixth season, 24 details the life of former Counter Terrorist Unit Director Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland) and his cohorts at CTU-Los Angeles as they work tirelessly to unlock clues and dissect extreme situations of national security. Every second of each 24 hours is fully utilized (both by Jack and by the viewing public) as Jack and the team attempt to thwart whatever diabolical terrorist agenda has been launched on an unsuspecting public. Sometimes, Jack’s situation appears hopeless, until “happenstance” steps in. Let me give you some examples:

A character necessary to solving the particular conspiracy has been shot and left for dead. But the character manages to cling to life just long enough for Jack to arrive so he can whisper to Jack the six-digit access code to a currently unbreakable computer terminal.

Or, with all leads totally exhausted, Jack and crew leave the staging house of one of the major terrorist conspirators empty handed and without a single future suspect. But Jack “just so happens” to leave something in the house and decides to return to retrieve it. As he searches for the lost item, a hidden cell phone “happens” to ring, and Jack and the CTU team are able to track the call and begin searching for the next previously undiscovered terrorist in line.

My personal favorite came during the second season. After a nuclear device is discovered in Los Angeles, Jack bravely volunteers to fly the device into the uninhabited desert on a suicide run, since he is the most qualified person to complete the job. As Jack’s plane nears the planned detonation zone, one of his superiors who “just happens” to have been irradiated earlier in the day, jumps from his hiding place, forcing Jack to parachute off the plane. Jack is once again “miraculously” saved while his already dying superior mans the plane to its target point.

Now to us as viewers (and to Jack), these little “coincidences” and “fortunate turns of fate” are supposed to appear random and uncoordinated. All appears lost, but thankfully a coincidental turn of events gets Jack back on track. But we need to recognize that each of these events of “happenstance” is actually a key component of a standard of effective story development: Every situation, event or character must propel a story toward a final fruition. And, more importantly, every sequential scene and circumstance must tie directly back to the ultimate storyline.

“PROVIDENTIAL” STORYTELLING

From a storytelling standpoint, Jack is not just the “lead” character of the program. He is the central character to furthering the creator’s storyline. And the story’s creator, the developer of a story’s “world,” is also more than just its writer. The creator (or writer) acts as providence in that world, since the writer has “created” the world through which all events and characters play out. In essence, the story-writing creator acts as god in His own created world. This providential discovery reveals the critical importance of the relationship between creator and character. Because Jack is the central character furthering the creator’s storyline, the creator must continually act “providentially” in Jack’s life. Every situation and event of “happenstance” during Jack’s 24-hour day (one full season) must be carefully and meticulously crafted by the story’s creator. Why? Because each providential event helps accomplish the creator’s agenda: the finished telling of his or her story. Remember, as McKee said, it’s all about the story.

We can then see how a story’s providential creator determines the hierarchy and accomplishments of his or her story’s other supporting characters: The more central the character to the creator’s storyline, the more providential the creator must be in that character’s life. Secondary and tertiary characters do not receive the same amount of providential assistance. Why? Their “personal” agendas are not as harmonious to the overall storyline. We don’t follow Chloe, one of the CTU computer whizzes, everywhere she goes in the story world of 24. We merely engage her now and then as her character once again becomes central, not simply to Jack, but to the creator’s storyline. But Jack’s life is continuously providentially assisted, because Jack’s sole focus and agenda is the furthering of the creator’s plan and intent for the overall story. Stepping outside that plan and intent does not eliminate a character from the overall storyline; it merely reduces the need for the story’s providential creator to deliberately act on that character’s behalf.

STEPPING INTO A BIGGER STORY

We can now apply this “creator/storyline/character” understanding to the Ultimate Creator of the Biblical worldview. Several months ago I had coffee with a young college student I had befriended years back while he was in junior high and I was a young and inexperienced youth group leader. He had since fed himself on a steady diet of humanistic and nihilistic philosophical literature, existentialist poetry, and naturalistic science, the common staples of modern-day academia. The institutes of higher learning had reshaped and remolded what had once been shaped and molded by the church. During the course of the evening he disclosed his current theological stance. “I see God,” he began, “as disinterested in the daily affairs of man, having created a mechanistic world he has since grown tired of.” His conclusions were based on the “reshaped” life he had chosen for himself and, correspondingly, a visible lack of God in his daily life. Instead of refuting his claim, I replied, “I can completely see why you believe that. Based on the way you current lifestyle choice, I don’t believe it’s possible for you to see God any other way.”

Too often we contest declarations such as his without understanding those willing to state them are being far more honest than we realize. Like his college professors no doubt had asserted, he was free to choose his own way, to write his own story. But there was little opportunity for Providence to appear as if He was acting in His life for his good. His life had become about furthering his own storyline, not the storyline of Providence. His perception of a deistic God was true – based on his personal storyline. He had chosen to become an extra on the set of life. That’s the great thing about being an extra on a television show or movie set. Most of your time is your own. You can pretty much come and go as you please. But you miss out on the opportunity to be an integral part of an awesome and inspiring story, carrying with it so many benefits an “extra” fails to experience.

DON’T BLAME PROVIDENCE

Now don’t get me wrong. It is not that Providence refuses to operate in the lives of those who choose their own limited storyline. But the actions Providence takes are so antithetical to our personal storylines that His redirection will appear random, chaotic and even detrimental. Let’s take that last idea back to 24. There are plenty of characters written into the 24 script having absolutely nothing to do with the story – until Jack somehow comes crashing into their lives. As they now integrate into providence’s (the story writer) overall story, Jack’s events and circumstances often appear highly disadvantageous to the new character’s personal agenda. New characters often repeat lines similar to: “I didn’t sign up for this,” or “This is not my fight; leave me out of this.” Though Providence is constantly attempting to steer and direct each person’s life back to its ultimate fullness, His redirect may not appear Providential. Why? The person in question has chosen to act as providence in his own life.

EMBRACING GOD’S STORYLINE MEANS A FULLER/RICHER LIFE

But those choosing to wholeheartedly embrace the Creator’s storyline, jumping into Providence’s plan with reckless abandon and complete faith, experience lives rich and overflowing with Providential assistance. God, who is infinite, knowing the end from the beginning, the One able to simultaneously view every person, situation and event from creation to eternity, will personally order your steps so as to complete His divine story. This is exactly what a story creator does. A story creator uses his or her characters to further an already completed storyline, even though the characters and the audience participate in the story through linear progression. Every event, subtlety and coincidence has been honed, refined and tested before the action ever takes place on screen. As we’re told in Eph. 2:10, we were created to do go good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

In 24, the events and accomplishments for Jack’s character were scripted well in advance of his linear progression because Jack is central to the creator’s story. In identical fashion, the Bible actually claims that God knows the “end from the beginning,” the necessary quality of a “providential” story creator. (Is. 46:10)

It gets even better. Because the creator develops the “world” of his story and acts providentially through it, everything in that creator’s world is at the creator’s discretionary means. Not only are Jack’s “steps” providentially determined, all of the resources in Jack’s world are available to Jack – as soon as they correspond to the creator’s storyline. If Jack needs a signed agreement by the President, a nondescript briefcase with $2 million in unmarked $100 bills, or a full weapons package and a team “locked and loaded” in the motorpool in 10 minutes, he gets them. Not simply because Jack asked for these items during the linear story, but because the progression of the creator’s storyline requires the use of the resources from the creator’s world. In the same way, the true Creator utilizes all the resources of His world in and through the lives of those willing to fully embrace His storyline.

We can again look at Jack to determine why we don’t always get what we want or even need according to our own desired timeframe. Jack only receives each item and resource in the creator’s world at the appropriate time necessary for the progression of the creator’s storyline. Jack may need $2 million during Hour Ten, but he does not receive it in Hour Two, Five or Seven. It is provided to Jack at exactly the right moment of need in the creator’s storyline. Again, we discover real support: “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” So we now see that both the works and gifts from the Creator’s world are given to those whose primary goal is to further the Creator’s storyline, and bestowed at the exact moment of need toward that end.

WHICH ROLL WILL YOU CHOOSE?

The question you must answer is which character you will you choose to be. Will you be a secondary character, a tertiary character, or perhaps an extra? Will you ensure portions of your own life are under your total control in your own finite frailty? Or will you strive to be a central character, furthering the development of the Creator’s storyline? Choosing to live in such a manner means that the Creator Himself must purposefully orchestrate your steps and provide you all of His natural and heavenly resources because of the critical role you play in His story. Make no mistake; it is a choice. This is the absolute brilliance and the ultimate tragedy of free will. You are blessed and cursed with the ability to do anything and everything you want – and miss the amazing opportunity your life was destined for because Providence was not only cheering you on, He was carefully orchestrating all your steps and providing you every resource.

Remember, this is the God who in a breath spoke the galaxies into existence, designed the vast oceans and mountains we plan months in advance to visit on vacation, carefully crafted the beautiful intricacies of each animal down to the hair follicle, scale, or feather and way beyond. What can you do?

Let’s go back to the story-writing genre once again. When a show garners critical acclaim, who receives the credit for the work? The story writer and director. In the same manner, when the God of the Universe steps into your personal life to further His storyline, the actions and outcome of your life look like the God of the Universe, not mere mortal man. And people will be drawn to you in the same manner as those fixated on the 24-hour season of Jack Bauer; because your very life is orchestrated so dramatically and wonderfully different than those around them.

I’ll say this in as much of a spirit of humility as I can. Countless people have come into my life simply because they are fascinated by the myriad of Providential events and leadings I experience on a daily basis. And they want to learn how they can experience the same thing. I have the joy of being able to point them to the Creator, through the by-product of living wholly devoted to His storyline. And as the Creator sees us being faithful to further His storyline in our limited spheres of influence, He increases our spheres of influence and resource through His own Providential action. (_His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things._ Matt. 25:23) According to the parable, what were the servants in charge of? The man’s personal affairs. Allow another verse to sink in deeply:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Rom. 8:28 (emphasis mine)

Without considering this creator/storyline/character relationship, this scripture often leaves secondary, tertiary, and extra characters confused and decimated. The events in the lives of most Christians do not appear to be working out for the good. But it is because they fail to read the last part of the verse. Just like the story writer predetermines, for those fully aligned with God’s purpose, God must providentially work all things and circumstances in their lives. And instead of having a human, finite writer scripting your life, the all powerful, infinite God has taken that role.

SO WHAT IS GOD’S STORYLINE?

The answer is radically simple and unbelievably complex. The Bible states there was One who came onto this earth not just as the main character of the storyline, but also as its Creator. His name was Jesus, and He was both God’s Son (main character) and God (The Creator of the story of existence). Scripturally, He is “the author and finisher of our Faith.” We attempt to analyze and ascertain him as a main character, but somehow His storyline as Creator has been grossly misplaced. Thankfully, Jesus repeatedly affirmed His storyline, even if much of the church has forgotten it. He said the Kingdom of Heaven was near.

Jesus understood God’s storyline: It was to bring God’s creation (earth) and God’s image (mankind) back to His intended purpose: the unbroken story, the reconciliation of both God’s creation and image back to its pre-fall – and perfect – state, both physically and spiritually. (_Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter._ Prov. 24:11). Man proved time and time again that he could not complete this storyline. So the Creator entered back into the storyline, fulfilling its purpose, becoming mankind’s new, and perfect, Adam – the new man, the undefiled central character. When Jesus said, “It is finished” on the cross, He was essentially declaring for all of creation, “I have reset my storyline back in order.” The Creator, the central character, and the finished storyline had fused.

Now that God has completed His portion of the storyline through Christ, it is time for His image (mankind) to do the same. Through Christ’s resurrection and ascension back into Heaven, the Creator, now acting as the central character in the fulfillment of the story, calls others to complete the task “on earth as it is in Heaven.” It is as if Jack Bauer were to come to you and say, “Here’s my weapon and my access card to CTU; now it’s your turn to act as a central character and further the creator’s storyline.” If the same Creator is writing the story, then He surely can work the same Providential circumstances in your life, provided you take a central character role. As Jesus said, you will “do even greater things than these.” And that is exactly what the Creator is looking for. The Bible says that “the eyes of the Lord” run to and fro about the earth, to find one whose heart is truly His.” What is he searching for? Those who long to be central characters in His story.

HOW DO I BECOME A CENTRAL CHARACTER IN HIS STORY?

To become a central character you must intimately involve yourself with every facet of the Creator’s world. Jack Bauer is an engaging story character because of his broad scope of proficiency, including languages, culture, history, tactics, strategy and physical fighting ability. The list goes on and on. In the story world, it’s called being a multi-dimensional character. But the sole purpose of a character’s multi-dimensionality is the advancement of the creator’s storyline! Everything Jack accomplished or learned through his “backstory” life helps further the completion of the creator’s storyline. We can then see three of the essential components of becoming a more central character:

You must be a student of God (the Creator), a student of His Word (His storyline), and a student of His world (His story world).

Dive into God, His Word and His world with reckless abandon. Devote yourself to gaining a deeper understanding of who He is through an inspiring time of daily scriptural study, meditation and prayer. Find an enlivening church that is embracing God’s storyline. If you’re not currently in such a church, inspire your pastor or respectfully search for a vital life-breathing church full of love and devotion to the surrounding society. And then become a radical student of the world around you. Engage politics, study philosophy, jump wholeheartedly into the arts and the humanities – all the while asking God to show you how to use His story world to further His storyline. The more multi-dimensional you become, the more you can engage the world around you with the truth of God, because God is both the Savior and Creator of mankind and the world.

Regardless of where you currently stand ideologically, God has placed you on this planet because you are to have a hand in reconciling the earth and its inhabitants back to their Kingdom state. Part of your calling is to “rebuild the ancient ruins,” on this earth, not to sit as an extra and count the days till the Creator removes you from the supposed “tragedy” of the current story, or you attempt to accomplish your own storyline. Our current “God said it, I believe it and that settles it” discriminatory mentality has caused us to remain one-dimensional, flat characters the world want nothing to do with. Furthermore, it allows mankind to justify his own harmful and erroneous storylines.

Above all, we must seek humility and purity. Without humility we’ll never even see the story and without purity we are annexed from becoming more central in God’s storyline. The enemy of mankind, the devil, knows this all to well. It is why so many of today’s diversions steal away our purity and force us to become insensitive to the things that grieve God, perpetually distancing us from His storyline. He has deliberately created endless false and damaging storylines to help us lose track of the true story. Worse, he has thrust many of us into painful and abusive “backstories” we were never intended to participate in, especially at young ages when we were helpless to stand up against them.

If we were to be really honest, we spend the majority of our lives engaged in other storylines, numbed to the damage they cause and naïve to the true storyline we’ve given up without so much as a fight. But that can change. Instead of watching God’s storyline unfold despite of you, you can be a part of making it happen. You can walk in confidence that, at the end of your part in His earthly storyline, you’ll hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Becoming a central character in the Creator’s storyline is a choice given freely by the Creator to be accepted or rejected through freewill. As C.S. Lewis stated in The Screwtape Letters, the enemy of mankind “forces” his will on man; God only “woos.” But if you are willing to step into the Creator’s storyline and become a central character during your lifetime, God makes this promise:

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matt. 6:33 (NIV)

The choice is now up to you. Take a moment, clear everything else away and ask yourself which role you will choose to play. The audience of Heaven and earth awaits your answer.

EPILOGUE: ONE FINAL THOUGHT TO PONDER

Everything spoken above, all of the principles of creator/storyline/character standards so central to the story writing genre, are impossible to correlate through any other worldview in human existence. Of all the immensely broad and diverse worldviews and religious systems on the planet, not a single other system matches up to a genre in which providential storytelling manifests. No other religion’s god correlates to the standard of the providential story teller. No other system places this kind of value on its characters. So why have we, as God’s ambassadors, missed it? Because our diluted, narcissistic version of 21st century Christianity is so far removed from the truth of the Biblical worldview it has become little more than every other worldview – devoid of ultimate Providential purpose and producing lackluster results once its distorted tenets are applied. And the ultimate tragedy of this article is that we had to use the proof of a fiction-producing genre to uncover the validity of the Biblical worldview – since there are so few real world examples of its evidence. Our current Christian methodology, our best-selling literature, and the majority of our mainstream pastors teach believers and seekers to remain extras in the very story of our “Savior.” This is why people embrace and marvel at film and television, instead of the church and its Providentially-assisted members.

But as more and more individuals become central characters, the potentiality of the storyline will manifest in greater geographic locations. The more characters furthering the storyline, the more the storyline builds, and once the storyline is reflected across all geographic locales, then the story will have permeated the earth. And then His story becomes the earth’s story. Knowing that the Kingdom—not 21st century Christianity and not our own agenda-oriented messages – is God’s central storyline, allow this last verse to permeate every aspect of the Church’s future mission’s programs and intent:

“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matt. 24:14 (NIV)

We must stop reading about the end and fixating on its prophetic timetable – and instead, become central characters in accomplishing it.