“I had always felt life first as a story—and if there is a story there is a storyteller.”
G.K. Chesterton.
We are characters living out subplots, our life-stories, within God’s Story.
I began this morning considering Simon Peter and King David. Their stories are alike. David lived before Christ’s time, Peter lived during and after Christ’s time.
Both of them were known for delighting God.
They were nobodies when God chose them. David, a youth tending sheep had been overlooked and discounted by his own father and brothers when the Prophet Samuel came looking for God’s future king to anoint. Peter was an outspoken, impulsive fisherman the day Jesus made him one of His closest friends. To Peter Jesus handed the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Accepting a leading role, Peter helped Jesus usher in God’s Kingdom on earth.
What made God choose such unlikely characters anyway? David became the most beloved king of Israel, the nation claimed by God to be his own people. He was such a significant person in God’s larger story. Jesus identified himself as the expected “Son of David.”
Peter, whom Jesus nicknamed “the rock” was the first stone (the first to believe Jesus was Messiah and Son of God) to be laid in the foundations of the Spiritual Temple of God made up of all believers in Jesus.
David and Peter were put in leadership roles. Both carried the kingdom of God forward. And, yet, both of them were a mess at times. They sinned. They disappointed God. They were unworthy of the favors given. Sometimes they walked beside God in the Light, other times they chased shadows. They didn’t merit the Lord’s love, calling, or gifts. But God saw something about them that much affected Him.
God chose them because of something only God sees.
The Lord chose David and Peter because of their hearts. That was the real attraction. God proclaimed that David was a man after His own heart. Jesus said many endearing things about Peter. He is the only man who walked on water with Jesus and was the first to use Jesus’ healing powers with words of his own mouth.
What affects God most when He sees us? Our hearts.
These thoughts are helping me to put my priorities in order at the start of this new year. I pray the Lord will look at my heart and help me put the foolish things behind me in order to enjoy walking in the Light beside Jesus, and to even walk on water with Him this year. My desire is to realize that my little life can be like David’s or Peter’s—this is my time in history to do my little bit for Him and His Kingdom. But, mostly, it is my time on earth to appreciate the Lord’s love, care, and favor. I want to live the Story God sees for me. If I live out of my heart, it’s what only God sees, but it is what He likes.
Priority One: Delight myself in the Lord.