EVERY STORY IS A MIRACLE

In her book, Accidental Saints: Finding God in the all the wrong people, Nadia Bolz-Weber writes of how she thinks that "we're in a time in the life of the church where stories of failure are so much more important than stories of success" (203).  That goes against the grain for a lot of folks in the church, doesn't it?  We're always promoting the folks that succeed, getting them up-front to tell their stories. 

I'm not sure Jesus is always in that, though. The Church is filled with ordinary "Jars of clay" (See 2 Corinthians 4:7), who struggle with their humanity and their faith, every day.  These folks will, most likely, never be invited to share their story on some great stage.  Not everyone among us has bestseller stories.  We'll never be asked to go on tour, telling our story that sets audiences on fire with motivation.  That's too bad, too, because our Scriptures tell us that God shows up best in weak people, everyday folks who have stories of a thousand different kinds; real people who are broken and bruised and wounded and beaten down by life and who go about their lives, as best they can, with their eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:2), seeking to be faithful to the God who has come into the "earthen vessels" of their humanity and poured into them the "treasure of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:7).   

The problem with "up-front and paraded sainthood" is that those who don't have dramatic stories are shuffled out of the way so that those with great stories can take center stage.  Also, where did we come up with this show-and-tell Christianity?  Shouldn't it be that if Jesus has so changed your life that it merits, in the eyes of some, notoriety, promotion, books and speaking tours, that it would better serve the kingdom by getting down in the trenches and living out the implications of the Faith among the hurting, the disenfranchised, the broken and lost? 

Don't get me wrong. I love a good story. I love a solid rock testimony.  I love what Jesus does in the lives of people, and I thoroughly enjoy hearing all about it.  I just feel we need to be extraordinarily careful not to disenfranchise believers whose stories aren't the dramatic kind that can wow an audience. 

The truth is that all of our stories are dramatic if Jesus has succeeded in wooing us to the Father so that the Father can pour into us the wonders of His amazing grace.  Every story is a miracle; every one of them.  Each story is so miraculous that on the day any one of us embraced the embrace of God and came into the open arms of our Savior, heaven rejoiced (see Luke 15:10). 

We have the treasure of Jesus Christ in jars of clay (2 Cor. 4:7) which means that everyone of us in Christ can sing with John Newton,

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now I'm found;

was blind, but now I see."

And Jesus said on our behalf, "Amen."