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God's Sidekick

 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,  trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.  It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. (I Peter 1:10-12)

You know those movies you watch and books you read that make you wish you had a life as exciting as your favorite characters do? I know I’ve told the story before, but years ago, someone at a motivational meeting said “Someday, you’ll be up here telling your story.” I wept all the way home because, in my mind, I didn’t have a story to tell. Now I know that wasn’t and isn’t true. My external story may be boring, but the story of my relationship with God – of my being one of His sidekicks and my part in the larger story that is His, the grace He shows me, the suffering that he endured for me, those are things that excite the audience watching it unfold.

And, as a writer, I can assure you that most of the characters about whom I write would really rather not be in the stories they’re in any more than you want to be in yours.

Today’s passage tells us the prophets and the angels are looking forward to the sequel to God’s story in you and in me. They saw the previews way back when, but now they get to finally see your part of the story. They’ve probably been talking about it for years, debating about what was going to happen. They’ve made popcorn and their favorite drink, and they’re saying “Shush” to one another, only to resume their role as arm-chair quarterback or literary critic. (Not in terms of “That’s badly written” but in terms of “Did you see that? That’s like what (name of character) did in (name of someone else’s story.)”

And they probably get a great thrill out of seeing what they predicted. “Look, Yes, I wrote that. God wrote that, but He inspired me to… Oh, it looks just as I pictured it (or completely different.)” 

I don’t know – it might help to keep in mind that there are those watching, who are excited about me. It might also make me very self-conscious – even more afraid that I am going to screw things up. But just think of it – you might be on someone’s top ten lists of God’s sidekicks.  

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