What's your story?

by Steve Soukup

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Some time ago I was asked to write a devotion for this blog, but who wants to write a devotion for a professor who teaches people how to write them? Who willingly subjects himself to the ire of the critics who are so quick to judge? It just got to the point where something deep inside had to come out and maybe that in itself is a key to writing. God created so many different kinds of people, and different approaches to writing relate to different people. So, this is for those who are like me -- the handful of us.

My father opened every new acquaintance with the question, “So, what’s your story?” People’s stories are fascinating. You can give me good doctrine all day and I will agree, but fall asleep.  But if you tell me your story… you got me. If your story teaches me something about what Jesus means for me, all the better. This is why God asks us to love him with all our heart as well as all our mind. In my strong, not so humble opinion, the absolute worst thing someone can do when trying to communicate in writing or speaking is to be boring. You can be right as rain, but if you are boring, few will hear.

That is why there are only a handful of theology books in the Bible but page after page of people’s stories. Even the theology books like Romans have sections of great insight into Paul’s story and how Jesus blew his mind, then supercharged and completely reconstructed his every day afterward. The Bible does not read like a dogmatics text. So if you write or speak, tell your story, even if it is ugly, be honest. Boast in your weakness. Sometimes people call this being “real.” To be honest, that jargon is lost on an old guy like me, but it seems to be reaching a ton of people.

So tell us about your scars and wounds. Tell us about your sin like David or your depression like Elijah. We want to know how Jesus redeemed you from your struggles. We want to know there is hope for us outcasts. We can’t relate to how right you are or how much you know, because we are so messed up.

Maybe, just maybe, the reason God redeemed us, as messed up as we are, was so that like Peter, we could tell our story once he got us through it. That is why after Jesus told Peter he would betray him, three time he said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31). Unfortunately, it took me way too many years to learn this and countless Sundays subjecting God’s people to my boring sermons. I am so sorry. I know God used it all anyway.

Steve Soukup has served as a mission pastor in the Seattle area and in Grenada.  He is presently praying for an opportunity to return to a ministry position in which he can use his gifts for serving people and communicating precious gospel to them.