Rewriting Your Broken Storyਨਮੂਨਾ

Day 1

A Broken Story

We all have broken stories: shattered dreams, failed plans, or squashed hope.

For most of us, life isn’t what we thought it would be.

People let us down. Our careers haven’t been everything we wished they would be. We have financial setbacks, health problems, relationship difficulties, and alienation.

Disappointments come to the young and old. That’s the nature of life on earth.

But Christians need not despair. God has a way of repairing the broken stories of this fallen but temporary world.

Moving Toward a Climax

As we age, we sometimes see our lives as winding down, but as Christians, we should see them as winding up. History as a whole, like our individual lives, is moving toward a grand climax in which all will be well.

How can you say that?

True, all may not seem well: your marriage may have crumbled, the divorce papers signed. Your loved one may have passed away—gone from your earthly life forever. Your childbearing years may have passed, and you may still be childless or even unmarried. Or you might be living a life today that reflects poor choices already made, choices you can’t undo.

But God: two of the most hope-filled words of the Bible.

But God has redeemed us. He demonstrated His own love toward us when we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). He is moving us toward the beginning of a life that will last forever. And so the pain of our bounded past is nothing compared to the joy of our unbounded future in and with Him.

Eternal Life

I’m not downplaying the pains of this life. I am simply that sure that God and His promises are real, and that (unlike human beings) He will never break His promises.

In the eternal life promised in His Son (John 3:16), every day will be better than the day before.

We will not be bored in heaven. Quite the opposite! We will be ever growing—emotionally, mentally—in our entire beings. We’ll be radically different in ways we can’t imagine now (1 John 3:2). Although we will recognize one another from this life, we’ll also see each other glorified, as God already sees us.

The things we tend to value on earth—power, prestige, wealth—will become insignificant. Socioeconomics, race, and status, rather than dividing us, will become trivial. Solidarity with one another will come from having a common destiny, a common Lord, and a common life. These commonalities will (and already do) give us far more dignity and a far greater and more secure identity than any of the surface things that we use to try to position people.

What’s Broken in Your Story?

Everyone has a broken story. Everyone also has a choice. We can turn our backs on the One who made us and loves us immeasurably, or we can embrace our broken story and repair it by setting it in the context of a Greater Story, one that begins and ends well.

Your suffering and pain can bring redemption when it forces you to reexamine what you believe. An eternal perspective can change everything, and it can help you make sense of the story you are living right now.

Scripture Reading:

• 2 Corinthians 4:16–18
• Romans 5:5–6