The Bible is a narrative of redemption and its chief character is Jesus Christ. He came to free people from bondage to themselves, he enabled them to live for his glory and gifted them with an eternity in his presence.
This overarching story reflects the fact that our problem as human beings is deeper than the individual sins we commit each day, creating the specific problems that complicate our lives. Our deepest problem is that we seek to find our identity outside the story of redemption.
If the entire goal and direction of our lives are wrong, we need much more than practical advice on how to do the right thing in a particular situation. We need a message big enough to overcome our natural human instinct to live for our own glory, pursue our own happiness, and forget that our lives are much, much bigger than this little moment of life.
Every day, in some way, we buy the lies of autonomy and self-sufficiency, worshiping the creation rather than its Creator.
It is because our sin problem is so pervasive and so deeply ingrained that we need more from Scripture than insight, principles, understanding, or direction…a problem-solving approach to Scripture is totally inadequate for the true depth of our need.
We need something that will change us from the inside out—we need Christ. Only his person and work can fee us from our slavery to self and our tendency to deify the creation. Only as we see our story enfolded in the larger story of redemption will we begin to live God-honoring lives.
Lasting change begins when our identity, purpose and sense of direction are defined by God’s story. When we bring this perspective to our relationships, we will have a dramatically different agenda.
–from “Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands” by Paul David Tripp
