We all conceptualize our lives within the framework of a story.
Most often, we see ourselves as the protagonist.
Some imagine themselves in a comedy (in the literary sense), where, although they encounter trials, they overcome them and emerge stronger on the other side. Those especially optimistic envision themselves on a hero’s journey where they experience a consistent upward trend of growth and development. They grow stronger after every dragon slain. The monsters may terrify, but the hero prevails. They glory in the journey of their future.
Others, consider themselves to be the main character of a great tragedy; they had the world, but the world lingered not within their grip. They were happy and content, innocent and naive, until chance, fate, or the gods looked down in capricious greed, stealing their reality and substituting it with one of cold, lifeless, and grief-ridden misery. Their experience unveils the farce of existence. Every step downward proves cynicism to be wisdom and themselves to be noble for perceiving this. Their catastrophes recruit the pity of their imagined audience. They glory in the pain of their past.
But have you considered…
What is the end of your story?
Is it worth telling?
Will it echo in eternity?
Is it instead isolated from eternity?
Does it even account for eternity?
Is the hero of your story deserving of never-ending acclaim?
Does veneration befit the drunken cynic?
Consider this carefully and discern it rightly.
Perhaps, you are telling the wrong story.
What if you are not the protagonist at all?
Would that concern you?
Entertain this thought: “I am the antagonist.”
Who, then is the hero? Who is pained by all your wayward thoughts? Whose glory do you diminish every time you boast in yourself? Whose purposes do you seek to thwart at every turn? Whose love do you deny to pursue other lovers? Who sang the song of creation? Who spoke the worlds into existence? Who commands the seraphim surrounding his throne? Who descended from heaven? Who was beaten? Who was mocked? Whose brow bore the thorny crown? Whose hands did the nails pierce? Whose blood was spilled? Whose body was broken?
Stand there like a man and answer me! Tell me if you know!
JESUS, KING OF KINGS, AUTHOR OF SALVATION, RULER OF ALL, LORD, AND GOD.
Tell the right story.
A Boy and His Bible 