Choosing His Adventure

Our lives read like a book.  They tell a story.  What do they say?  How will they end?  Do our lives speak of us, or do they speak of God?  Yes.  They speak of both, but my hope and prayer for me and for you is that God has the last influence and the last word on our lives, that the author of life himself, the grand story, edits and completes our stories as we live them out for Him and in Him, and that they read much like Colossians 1:21-23:

“You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.”

I used to read these choose your own adventure books when I was a kid, which in itself was a miracle, because I hated to read, but these books were cool.  I could actually participate in how the story would turn out.  Each decision that I made as I read this book would lead me in a direction with another decision which would lead me to another outcome and another decision to be made and on it would go until the story ended.  The authors of these books are extremely creative and artistic and allow for many different adventures and choices that came to a few choice endings.  I remember when I found out that I could cheat the system and read the last pages for the ending that I wanted.  I then would go through the book and make choices that would take me to that ending.

What Paul is saying to us here in Colossians is clear: “Choose God’s adventure.”  Paul wants us not to put the book down.  He wants us to make the right choices to live out the author’s story.  We are not to look at other stories and we are not to look away from the one that God has called us into.  As one adventure leads us to the next and till that glorious end comes may we not close the cover, may we not give up, be distracted or diverted to a lesser tale.

Choosing His Adventure,

Robbie

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Col 1:21-23