A Good Story?

Everyone loves a good story. I believe God created us to enjoy them. Homer wrote The Odyssey 2700 years ago, and it's still a good yarn to our modern minds. It has everything we like, heroes, villains, adventure, and great obstacles to overcome.  We love stories. Paul liked to tell his conversion story, but he’s not the hero of his story. He’s the villain. Christ is the hero of Paul’s story. Paul was the bad guy, doing bad things, and loving every minute of it. He was a villain worthy of death, yet Christ died for him. Christ saved Paul’s soul, and Paul is a preacher of Christ.  

There is another type of conversion story, where we are the hero and our “sin” was the villain. Our sin is bad, and we were bad sinners, but the converted overcame all odds, and bested sin by their decision to follow Christ. In these stories, it seems there is a glory in the wickedness of sin. The bigger the villain, the better the victory. The person would never say it exactly that way, but how could we come away from such a tale with any other thought? 

Boasting is excluded, when it comes to salvation (Romans 3:27). When Paul talks about salvation, there is no room to boast on anyone or anything, other than Christ. We are declared innocent freely by God's grace. We are justified, not based on our works of the law, but because we have received, through faith, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our grounds for justification are based on Christ fulfilling all the demands of the law on our behalf. We are not the hero of our righteousness. We have all sinned and come short of God's glory, so Christ Jesus is our propitiation, whose death satisfied God's wrath for my sin. The blood of Christ washed away my sin. I'm not the hero there either. I was in bondage to sin, my nature, an indebted to divine justice, but Christ redeemed me, set me free, bought me, and gave me life. I'm not the hero and my testimony shouldn't make me one.

I believe it's good for Christians to tell the story, but we need to make sure it's a true story. Stories change over time. They also change when we get all the facts. The Bible tells us the truth about how we are saved. We get the "inside scoop" on God's work in our salvation. The Bible tells us the truth about ourselves, our nature, and our ability. We learn we are saved by grace, not by works. Even our faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). If you are the hero of your testimony, then you need to check your story against the Scriptures. We are the villains. We are sinners, the law breakers, the guilty and condemned. Christ is the hero who saved us and set us free. If your story makes you look good, then you are taking credit for God's work.