I know we live in a society that looks at the Bible as just a bunch of old, irrelevant and sometimes even made-up stories.
I know that many songs have been penned about how wonderful the world would be if we stopped our religions.
I know that when I say “I believe Jesus is Who He said He is,” I don’t gain any popularity or credibility with many of the people I know.
But here’s the thing – I still believe. Because I think the Bible tells our story, and the story of the world we live in today.
I’ve only flipped two pages at the beginning of the Big Story we call the Bible when a good world is badly broken. Let me just stop right there. Broken. Badly. I gotta tell you, this grabs my attention! Like, you don’t have to tell me! It’s broken big time!
Sound like the world you live in? It certainly is the one I see every day. Even the one I live through every day. I just can’t shake the sense that things should be different. Better. Around the globe. In our nation. In our communities. In our families. Even in the mirror.
And honestly (spoiler alert) seven pages later, it’s telling me how it’s going to be made good again. Not kidding! Ten pages are all it takes. The rest of the account – all 1,550 pages of it in the version I’ve got in front of me today – is about how it’s going to be made good again. Not if. How.
Ten pages in and we hear there is a plan to fix it. The one who made it refuses to leave the world broken and humanity hurting, enters in, and makes promises to restore this world to good!
The rest of the Big Story is not simply asking if I agree. It is not just inquiring if I believe the stories. It is not merely giving advice on how to live. It is telling us how this broken world is being healed and restored. And it is inviting us to be a part of it by knowing the one who made it all and took all the world’s brokenness on.
I’m all in! I don’t see another option.
I don’t mind if you call me crazy. I’ve been called worse.
But, let me ask you a few questions that I’d rather share with you over a coffee! What do you believe? Why do you think the world is broken? (notice I’m not asking if you think it is broken) Do you hope for a better world, community, family, or self? What do you think will make them good again? How do you choose to live that out?
Turns out we all have beliefs. Mine are rooted in a 4,000-year long record of promises made and promises kept. And I won’t call you crazy if you want to share yours with me sometime. Want a coffee?
***
Melanie Koch Nichol is a director at Youth Unlimited/Youth For Christ Listowel.
