Godthings

“The true understanding of the Bible is that it tells the story of which my life is a part, the story of God’s tireless, loving, wrathful, inexhaustible patience with the human family, and of our unbelief, blindness, disobedience. To accept this story as the truth of the human story (and so my story) commits me personally to a life of discernment and obedience in the new circumstances of each day. When I accept this as the true story and begin to live within the story that the Bible tells as my own story, then the Bible becomes the spectacles through which I see the world. I do not examine the Bible through the spectacles provided by our ‘modern’ culture; I begin to see the world (the ‘modern’ world) through the spectacles that the Bible provides.

Of course we live among people who tell other stories—the story of ‘civilization,’ with Columbus as a hero; the Marxist story; the Muslim story. We are all in the midst of the story and none of us has seen the end. Till then, we walk by faith, not by ‘indubitable knowledge.’ There is no other way for human beings to walk. We have no superior standpoint from which we could demonstrate that ours is the true story. But we can point to one feature of our story that is unique. All the other stories look to an end within history. They look to the intrahistorical triumph of their cause. They are therefore inherently imperialist. The Church has sometimes acted in precisely that imperialistic way, but that is to betray her gospel. What is unique about the Christian story is that its crucial turning point is the event of Calvary and Easter, when we learn that the triumph of God is an event beyond history that gives meaning to all history. This means that we can always be at the same time realistic and hopeful. We can face, as Amos and Jeremiah did, the most shattering disaster for the visible cause of God, and yet continue to act in confident hope because we know that the real victory has already been won.

Of course the story will always be treated with skepticism and disbelief. That has always been so. What can make it credible is the existence of communities of people, local congregations, who believe it, celebrate it, live by it, act on it in the world. And for that we need pastors who believe it, live by it, and allow the Bible to shape the way they see the world. And we need Christians who learn to see the world through the spectacles of the Bible. Here I would like to speak of my own experience. I more and more find the precious part of each day to be the thirty or forty minutes I spend each morning before breakfast with the Bible. All the rest of the day I am bombarded with the stories that the world is telling about itself. I am more and more skeptical about these stories. As I take time to immerse myself in the story that the Bible tells, my vision is cleared and I see things in another way. I see the day that lies ahead in its place in God’s story. I can then go into the unpredictable happenings of the day knowing that I will not be lost.”

— Lesslie Newbigin, “Learning to Live in the Spirit in Our European Home,” A Word in Season: Perspectives on Christian World Missions (edited by Eleanor Jackson) (via wesleyhill)