“There is meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What is a God story?
Most call it a testimony.
Some call it how God found me.
Some call it the ultimate rescue story.
All in all it’s your story in His greater story.
We could easily look at the who, what, when, where, and why of how God found you (and sometimes how He keeps finding you) … but we will circle back to that later on.
Do I have a story?
Yup, as long as you have been alive and breathing. It may have gone in a straight line or have zig zags from here to the other side of the world. But it’s your story and there is space for all of us to tell ours.
So, why do we like to compare our stories?
I read an interesting article on Psychology Today that looks at social comparison theory. “Social comparison theory is the idea that individuals determine their own social and personal worth based on how they stack up against others.”1 This theory, developed in 1945 by American social psychologist Leon Festinger, shows that there is essentially a duality taking place when we compare ourselves to others. Interestingly, “people who regularly compare themselves to others may find motivation to improve, but may also experience feelings of deep dissatisfaction, guilt, or remorse, and engage in destructive behaviors like lying or disordered eating.”2
Society already boxes us into categories that tell us that one story should be pitted against another. Unfortunately, many times when that is done it’s in the name of making others in humanity take a collective breath and say “at least that wasn’t me” and off to the races we go again with our comparisons and competitions to attempt to live up to some unattainable measure.
Frankly, if we’re being really honest here, it can feel a lot time comparing mainstream memoirs. Some people are worse off than us and that makes us in turn feel better about ourselves.
For instance, let’s consider some hypothetical celebrity memoir summary themes for you to ponder:
He went to rehab and turned his life around.
She was a child of divorce but found real love.
He was raised in a cult and finally broke free.
She abandoned her family to find true happiness.
I bet part of you was interested to learn more and maybe even want to pick up the book. Even if you didn’t identify with any of those items, some twinge of you breathed a sigh of relief. A piece of you might have even muttered under your breath that you already knew that celebrity had problems and quietly question if you even think they deserve happiness in their life.
Former football coach Lou Holtz said it best:
“Never tell your problems to anyone...20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them.”
Ouch. I’ll let you take a moment to remove that venom.
So, what does this at all have to do with our God stories?
Let me preface this section by saying blankly that the first thing we’re not going to do is compare our God stories because there is room in His beautiful tapestry for each and every one of us. No one, and I empathetically mean no one, has a story that seems too small or too large. These aren’t metric in God’s kingdom economy.
For ease of understanding, let’s generally pocket all of our faith stories into three themes. Yes, these might allot for overtly generalized faith bias but usually this is quite like how our stories tend to be discussed in church circles.
You were raised in the Christian faith and have always followed His will for your life with few ‘societal’ deviations.
You were raised in the Christian faith but have drifted in and out of your faith over the years and either continue to belief or might have possibly walked away from the faith.
You were raised without a religious faith, of any tradition, but found out about Jesus and you’re starting to ask questions because nothing else has worked for you.
Want to know something? It doesn’t matter what you’ve come from or where you are going. God wants you to join in His greater story for humanity.
But …
You have doubts, objections, or think your story of finding (or searching for) God doesn’t seem valuable.
Well, let’s walk into some of those places…
I’ve always been the good Christian kid that checked all the boxes and have disobeyed from time to time but I think I’m still good and my story isn’t that bad.
I’ve gone to far in my life and made so many mistakes that God could never forgive me because I believe in Him but wonder if He can ever truly love me after what I’ve done.
I’ve never felt loved or accepted in my life and though I’ve been searching all my life for something to give me purpose I don’t know if following Jesus will lead me to yet at another dead end without hope.
Well, guess what friends! There’s good news for all of us.
John 3:16-18 (The Msg) poignantly lays it all out for us.
This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.
Did you catch that?
God sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for all of our sins, imperfections, seemingly good deeds, and blemishes for all time!
So, you don’t have to fix your life before you approach God and we don’t have to feel like we can’t share our God stories no matter the narrative. There are no greater or lesser stories. We are all a part of God’s greater story.
I’ll be sharing in a later post how I shared my prepared to share my testimony with a recovery group a few years ago (and how my story needs revising before I share it again).
Social Comparison Theory article https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/social-comparison-theory?amp
Social Comparison Theory article https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/social-comparison-theory?amp
Comparison has crushed enough souls already
We need examples of sacrifice, of love
Maybe that's why God had to send Jesus
Comparison truly is the thief of joy but each of our stories have a place in the kingdom of God. Thank you for this!