Q: What is the importance of story in the Christian life?
This book contains stories because really the Bible is a story; the whole Bible is a story of God’s determination to redeem and rescue His children. Before the Bible is a list of doctrines, before the Bible is a suggestive behavior modifications, the Bible is a story. And it’s a collection of small stories, subplots, Gods interaction with people throughout history. I believe that’s why everywhere Jesus went He told stories, and He didn’t always make application of those stories. Often, He would tell the story and just leave the story for people to chew on and to live with; and that’s what stories do. Stories move in, they take up residents in our hearts; and what they do for you and what they do for me might be two different things, but they always do something because stories in and of themselves have a certain power. So, these stories of people in the Bible have power, they bring life and hope; and we can engage and connect with them, so these stories stick with us, these stories change us and I believe that these stories reflect the very heart of God.
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Q: Why do these Bible stories matter?
Why do these stories matter? Well, they matter because we have handicaps, and we go through divorces, we make promises and don’t keep them. We tell lies because we don’t like the truth. Why do these stories matter? Because they are in the Bible. There is a story of a young boy who is handicapped and remembered by a king. There is a story of a king that cheated on his wife. There’s the story of a prophet who is so depressed that he became suicidal. There is a story of a follower of Jesus who didn’t believe that Jesus was who He said He was. These are the things we do—we get depressed, we have handicaps, we don’t believe Jesus is who He said He was. And so these stories are great tools for us, to help us to see how kind and patient God is even when we struggle. And also these stories are great tools to give to people. They are gifts we give people; and when people who have never read these stories discover that the Bible is populated by real people with real questions, with real concerns, they find their stories in these stories. And that’s my prayer, that we’ll all find our story in the stories of the Bible.
Q: You explain that these biblical character profiles reveal how God can “use man’s best and overcome man’s worst.” What do you mean by that phrase?Well, this phrase is important because it helps us see that God uses us when we’re useful. But we still have a purpose when we’re not useful. Our use to God doesn’t depend on our own goodness; He can overcome our mistakes. In fact, what we mean for evil God can even use for good. So this phrase exalts God as the One who really leads the cast of characters.
