20 years & 1000 words

Jesus loves me.

Three simple yet incredible words were written on the dry erase board in Sunday school class room when I arrived.

Jesus loves me.

We all know the song. We can quote Bible verses. Many of us can give the theological explanation behind all of it. We know who Jesus is. We can talk all about Him. We mention Him conversation casually. Some of us try to imitate him. We know that Jesus loves us. It’s not new information.

Jesus loves me.

But, seriously, it’s ridiculous. If you think about it.

Jesus loves me.  Jesus loves me? Yes. Jesus loves me!

Jesus, the Son of God. The God who created the universe and is master of everything in it. That God. That God decided that it’d be a good idea to suffer in human form. Because He loves us. He could have done it a different way because there are no rules or restrictions governing how God has to work. Nobody has the job of being God’s boss. God is the boss. He plays by His own rules. Nonetheless, this was the way that He chose because He knew that it would reveal His love to us in an irresistible way that is beyond any logical explanation…seriously ridiculous. God’s love is serious. And by any human standards of love, it’s ridiculous.

Jesus loves me.

The Sunday morning when I found those words on the board, we were talking about parables. The stories that Jesus used to communicate incredible and profound truths in ways that would pierce the hearts of humans hearing them inspiring intrigue, curiosity and a call for change. They are stories that would be told for thousands of years to come and that would effect the lives of people halfway around the world in languages never heard at the original time of their telling. Stories, that by any standards, have become famous.

We all like stories. Jesus knew that. He didn’t need to speak in parables. There was no rule about that. He could have done whatever He wanted to do to communicate these truths, but He chose stories – stories that revealed God’s love in ways that we would be able to receive and share, which, after all, was the motivating factor behind it all. Jesus used stories to change the world as it was known. Even people who don’t believe He is God’s son can’t deny that.

And stories still work. The question is, are we still using them? If you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life, then the greatest story of all time has changed you profoundly and forever. It’s true. If not for that story, your story would have a completely different eternal trajectory. By God rewriting your story, you have a better story. A much better story.

This better story, the Jesus story, which can sometimes become more routine than any of us would prefer to admit, remains fresh in our own hearts by the stories it is used to write in the everyday lives that we live. Our families. Our jobs. Our children. Our friends. Our dreams. Our hopes. Our fears. The parts that make up the whole are all influenced by the greatest story ever told and help us continue to remember that it’s a big deal that Jesus loves us. These stories keep it at the forefront of our minds.

Jesus loves me.

So the question is, what kind of story are you writing? Are you seeking a story of God’s great adventure by allowing yourself to help others write better stories? As Christians, we are called to engage. We are called to change. We are called to edit. Rewrite. Improve. Revise. And to create better stories. The beginning of Lent and leading up to Easter could be the perfect opportunity to reflect on God’s story and your story to consider how this Easter could be different, fresh and one the that you remember as a significant chapter of your faith story. How could you invite others to have their stories become better stories by an invitation to hear God’s story? A much better story. Because Jesus loves you. This I know. For the Bible tells me so.