God's Story Has a Hallmark Ending!

 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4 ESV).

 

You may not be familiar with the Hallmark Channel and its productions. I especially like the Christmas movies they air during the season. All of them are entertaining and they inevitably move toward what has been called a "Hallmark ending." This typically refers to a conclusion in a movie or story where everything works out happily ever after, often with romantic love as the central theme. These endings are characterized by resolution, reconciliation, and a sense of closure, often involving a romantic kiss or a declaration of love. While some find these predictable and formulaic, I appreciate the optimistic and feel-good nature of such conclusions, especially in the context of romantic comedies or holiday films. It is not often that I see such a story in real life. When they do happen, I am reminded that God’s story has such an ending already planned and being implemented.

 

In the middle of a difficult story it can be comforting to know that things will turn out well in the end. Then, even if part of the story is distressing, you know that things will be resolved later. The same is true in God’s big story for us and his world. It begins in a perfect world, but we’re in the middle now, and a fierce battle is raging around us. When the forces of evil bring suffering or fear into our lives, it can be reassuring to know how our story will end.

 

I think that’s one of the main reasons why God included the book of Revelation in the Bible. Sometimes Christians mistakenly treat the last book in the Bible as a collection of end time trivia over which we can speculate. But the real purpose of the book is to give a credible response to the request “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). Jesus summarizes the entire book of powerful visions and apocalyptic imagery with these simple promises: “I am making everything new,” and “I am coming soon.” We’re still in the middle of our stories, but we can trust that, in Christ, the end will be amazingly good!

 

Living Your Story in Peace

 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-9 ESV).

 

There is often an incredible contrast in living with frantic anxiety and deep, lasting peace. Followers of Jesus are given enough of their story at a time to live at peace. I’ve seen and experienced this throughout my life. Some of our stories actually start pretty badly, with broken families, bodies, and emotions that experience deep pain—and often terrible kinds of abuse. Even so, we can still know that our Storyteller has promised to work everything out for good by the end of the story. And that means that if everything’s not yet all right, then we’re not yet at the end.

 

As we live in the part of the story between our brokenness today and God’s “happily ever after” someday, we can know that every chapter of our story will somehow serve the purpose that God wrote into our lives from the very beginning. This is our assurance from the promises of God. This is the first step toward achieving a peaceful life.

 

In fact, when we live with a story that is punctuated with trial and difficulty, we should practice an intentionality and mindfulness rooted in the truth that this is merely God’s perfect way of delivering the ultimate good in our life. Instead of feeling the cold desperation of scrambling for everything, we can relax. Instead of trying nervously to achieve some success right now, we can allow God’s Holy Spirit to make us new over time. Because we know that the end of our story will be a good one, we can let God create his fruit in us: his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23). And through it all, God’s peace surrounds us like a shield.

 

Remember we are in a cross-country marathon, not a sprint!

 

Defiance toward God's Story by Pretending

 

And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.” And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” (Isaiah 29:11-14 ESV).

 

As I wrote in the last few days, sometimes we defy God deliberately; and, at other times we try to resist him passively, giving God the silent treatment as we refuse to pray, worship, or even talk about him. We also resist God when we pretend to be following Him. We merely go through the motions, even though our hearts aren’t in it. There are times when we do this simply because we believe our pain is too great to let anyone see it. There are other more insidious reasons for hypocrisy. Those are the most damaging.

 

Sometimes we do that in our marriages or families. We may dutifully go through the motions of fulfilling our spouse’s demands, while inwardly bristling at the burdens placed on us. Or we may technically do the tasks on our parent’s chore list, but the look on our face shows that we’re not doing it willingly.

 

Sometimes we also do that with God. We appear to be participating wholeheartedly in the things of God, but it’s mostly for appearances. We may sing in worship or participate in the discussion at a Bible study, but our participation has more to do with not wanting to look bad in front of our friends than really wanting to honor God. One of the scary aspects of organized religion is that we can easily “fake it.” It’s possible to go through the motions in church for years while carefully keeping God at arm’s length. The result is usually a grim religiosity lacking in faithfulness and joy.

 

Whatever the motivation, God is asking us for truth in our relationship. He doesn’t desire our meaningless activities. He desires a genuine relationship… the good, the bad, and the ugly. All of it He is working together for our great good!

Passive Defiance toward God's Story

 

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 ESV).

 

Most of us don’t deliberately defy God very often. But that doesn’t mean we always accept his story line for our lives. Instead, we simply find subtle ways to resist God’s working in our lives. For instance, one thing we try is to give God the silent treatment. Some people are masters at giving others the silent treatment. The silent treatment is a form of non-communication where one person intentionally refuses to engage with another, either by not speaking or not acknowledging their presence. It can be a passive-aggressive tactic used to express displeasure, disapproval, or contempt. While it can feel temporarily satisfying to the person giving it, the silent treatment can have damaging long-term consequences on relationships.

 

When a conflict comes up in their family or workplace, they simply stop communicating. They withdraw and become silent, hoping that their furious silence will convince people to see things their way. They can communicate something very clearly without saying a word. This is true spiritually as well. We turn away in silence, thinking that our silence will somehow convince Him to keep his distance. We stop praying or serving, and whenever possible we find excuses to avoid Bible study or worship. And if we find we must engage in any of those activities, we make clear that we’re simply going through the motions. Of course, it’s silly to try to keep secrets from a God who knows everything, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try it.

 

The good news is that God is never silent to us. While it may be difficult to understand God’s message, He is never absent from us. No winder the Apostle Paul tells us in our reading today to “pray without ceasing.” Don’t withdraw, lean in closer to the only One who has the power to write your story for great good!

 

Defiance towards God's Story

 

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.” (Luke 15:11-18 ESV).

 

Today’s reading comes from one of my favorite stories Jesus used in His teaching. We call it the “Parable of the Prodigal Son” because one of the central characters is a wayward son. However, the story is more about the father’s love for this wayward son. There is much to learn from this parable. Today, my focus is on the defiance and ultimate repentance of the “prodigal.

 

While it may seem exciting to think of God crafting an eternal story for our lives, the fact is that sometimes we don’t want someone else writing our stories—even God. It can feel a little invasive when God intervenes in personal plans and choices that we want to handle ourselves. We begin to bristle as his story-writing starts to cramp our style. To be sure, it’s a little tricky to rebel against God’s leading. But sometimes God’s people do that. Think of Jonah heading off for Tarshish instead of following God’s call to Nineveh (cf. Jonah 1). Or think of the Israelites’ frequent forays into the worship of idols instead of putting their trust in God.

 

Let me be a gentle as I can… this never ends well for us! Perhaps you can think of a time in your life when you’ve deliberately thrown off your faith in God and the teachings of Scripture, heading out in a bold new direction like the younger son in Jesus’ parable. Perhaps you showed defiance by refusing to do as you know to be God’s will in your life, even when others are calling to you to return.

 

Fortunately, God seems to exhibit enormous patience toward our defiance. Our rejection grieves him as He sees the pain we experience personally and often cause in those we love. He will make a way for us to return and welcome us home when we do. Is it such a time in your life today? Come on home… that is where you belong!

The Twists and Turns of God's Story

 

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. (Acts 9:1-9 ESV).

 

Young Saul of Tarsus had a pretty clear idea where his story was headed. He was bright, ambitious, and trained by the best teacher in Israel. He had a future as a powerful leader. And now here was an opportunity: leading the effort to hunt down the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who had been executed a few months earlier. Jesus’ outrageous teachings had spurred his followers to cause trouble all over Israel. Soon Saul was leading raids on towns and cities, capturing followers of Jesus and bringing them to trial. It felt like a role he was destined to fill.

 

But one day, as his team approached Damascus, everything exploded in front of them—a blinding light, then a loud voice. Saul found himself on his back in the dust. Someone was asking him a question, so he asked, “Who are you?” “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” the voice said. Saul’s heart must have sunk at that. The rabbi they’d put to death was somehow back, and now he was pursuing Saul!

 

By the end of that encounter Saul’s eyes were blinded, but the eyes of his heart had been opened. His friends helped him stumble into town so that he could begin to see what Jesus Christ had in mind for his life story. Saul’s life would be drastically changed. Perhaps you feel like your life has reached a point where there is no u-turn possible; God has already seen this moment and planned for your change. Accept His will and purpose. Take the new direction knowing it will lead to your great good!

 

God's Unfolding Story

 

Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house rand put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. (Genesis 39:1-5 ESV).

 

Joseph found himself in the middle of a tough story. I’m sure you’ve heard the story. As the favorite son of a wealthy father, Joseph was resented by his brothers. To get rid of him, they sold him into slavery to merchants bound for Egypt. In Egypt he worked hard, found favor with his master, and eventually was put in charge of the master’s household. Then he landed in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Later, the one person who might have helped him gain release forgot about him, and Joseph waited day after day as life passed him by. (cf. Genesis 39-40.)

 

But there was more going on in Joseph’s story than we might think. This is true in the story God is writing into our lives. As we brace against each new setback, the Bible tells us that God “was with Joseph.” And eventually we see how God was steadily working out his purposes, even through the disasters of a Hebrew boy wasting away as a slave in Egypt.

 

By the end of Joseph’s story, we’re amazed to see what God has been up to all along. Joseph interprets a dream for the king of Egypt, who makes him a ruler over the land; his brothers tearfully repent of their earlier cruelty; and their entire clan is saved from a famine that might have wiped them out and destroyed the future of God’s people. (cf. Genesis 41-50.)

 

Do not give up in the middle of your story. God’s promise is that He is working it all for your good (cf. Romans 8:28).