In his book The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good, Peter Greer quotes Jon Tyson, pastor of Trinity Grace Church in New York City: “If you don’t know you are the beloved, you will have to be the star of every story.” The opposite is true as well: When you know you are the beloved, you no longer need to be (or desire to be!) the star of every story.

As we look at our own stories over the next several days, a significant paradigm shift should happen as we reshape how we see our lives and the world around us. Our tendency as imperfect humans is to make our stories about us. They are our stories after all. But, our stories - our lives - are not meant to be about us; they are meant to be about the One who created us, redeemed us, and restored us. When we begin to view our lives and the world through the lens of the Gospel, we realize that we are not the main character, and we are certainly not the hero; God is. Not only does Gospel fluency cause us to remember that we aren’t the main character, it also causes us to lose the desire to be the main character.

In order to change the way we view our lives and the world, we have to change the lens through which we see everything. Scripture is our lens. Without a solid knowledge of the Truth, our perspective will not change. As we better understand who we are because of who God says we are, our focus begins to shift from constantly looking at ourselves to more consistently searching for God in every aspect of life. This is not an immediate change. It takes time and it takes a humble reliance on the Holy Spirit as He convicts us and strengthens us in this journey to more fully seeing God as the main character of our stories.

Today we will focus on the first two aspects of the Gospel message: creation and fall.

Reflect on the following verse:

Genesis 1:27 (ESV) - So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

This is a familiar verse. It’s almost too familiar to us. Because we have become so familiar with this Truth, we can become numb to its significance. Read the verse again and personalize it:

So God created (insert your name) in his own image; in the image of God he created me…

Don’t skim past that. God created YOU in HIS image. YOU bear the image of the almighty, all-powerful, all-loving God. You have inherent dignity, worth, and value because you are stamped with the image of your Creator. Your value comes from the One who created you. No person, no job, no position, no words of affirmation, no promotion, no amount of volunteer hours dictate who you are. Your race, your gender, your social status, and your political affiliations do not determine your worth. Your intrinsic value comes from God and God alone.

When we believe this Truth, our perspective changes and our actions follow suit. Instead of seeking personal glory, we seek the glory of the One who loved us enough to create us in His image.

Psalm 139:14 (ESV) - I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Does your soul know this well? Genesis 1:27 tells us that we were all created the same; we were all created with intrinsic worth. Psalm 139 tells us that we are all created uniquely, with our own specific purpose, our own individual gifts and abilities.

Are you striving for the purpose and the abilities of someone else? If so, consider how that detracts from the person God created you to be. Consider how your longing to be like someone else detracts from the body of Christ.

The fall. We’re all familiar with this.

Genesis 3:6-7 (NIV) - When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Author, Jen Wilkin points out the progression of sin in her study on the book of James. We see this progression with Eve. She sees the fruit.→She desires the fruit→She takes the fruit. The same progression is seen of David with Bathsheba and Achan with stolen treasures. They see it; they want it; they take it. The same is true of us. We see an opportunity to sin; we begin to desire that sin more than we desire God and His best; we act on the sin.

Sin is about choosing ourselves over God. We know the penalty of sin is death (Romans 3:23), but the momentary pleasure takes precedence. We know that we are all sinners (Romans 6:23), but we easily forget sin keeps us from perfectly reflecting the image of God that is stamped on us because in the moment of our sin, we aren’t seeking to reflect Him; we’re seeking to please ourselves.

Reflect on Romans 6:12-13 (ESV) -

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

In what areas of your life are you choosing to please yourself instead of pleasing God?

Confess these areas to God. Ask Him to reveal your sins to you not for the purpose of guilt or shame, but for the purpose of repentance.

As we close today, thank the Lord for creating you in His image and for creating you uniquely. Thank Him for creating you with and for a specific purpose. Then ask Him to lead you to mourning the sin in your life and to increase your desire to choose Him over yourself.

Today we move to the final two stages of the Gospel: redemption and restoration. Human words cannot do these stages justice, so, today, my words will be few. Instead, we will sit in the Word. As we read the Scripture passages below, reflect on the work we did yesterday in changing our perspective. See yourself through the lens of the Gospel: you were fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, and you are a sinner.

But that’s not the end!

Let’s return to the final verses we looked at yesterday:

Romans 6:12-13 - 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

Let’s keep reading!

Romans 6:14 - For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Hallelujah! These verses do not mean that we will no longer deal with sin when we’ve asked Jesus to be our Lord and Savior. We will struggle with making a choice between ourselves and God for our entire lives, BUT that sin no longer has dominion over us. It no longer determines our eternal destiny because Jesus paid it all.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

You are (or will be if you haven’t yet made the decision) saved by grace. What a gift! We aren’t saved by our good works. We have no need to weigh our good deeds and our sins in order to make sure we do more good than bad.

Once again, it’s not about us; it’s about Him. GOD is the hero of our story, not us.

In Matthew 19:30, as Jesus died on the cross, He proclaimed, “It is finished!” Sit with that. It…is…FINISHED. The end. The price has been paid. The ultimate sacrifice was made.

Now, we are children of God, His heirs.

John 1:12-13 (ESV) - But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

It gets even better! We finish with restoration.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

This is another familiar verse. Don’t let its familiarity cause you to miss the gravity of its message. THE OLD HAS GONE! You aren’t hanging in the balance. You aren’t working to get rid of the old; it’s already gone. That’s the work of Jesus. It’s a gift. You can’t earn it. You don’t deserve it. God offers it to us.

For our entire lives we will strive to be more like Christ, but that striving comes from a love for the Lord and a desire to please Him. This is a pruning of the areas of our life that aren’t pleasing to God, but that’s sanctification, not salvation. Salvation is done by God and God alone. Take His gift. Thank Him for it.

When the message of the cross - the message of both redemption and restoration - is the lens through which we see our lives and the world, we will be overcome with humility, compassion, grace. We cannot be overwhelmed by God’s grace and keep it to ourselves. It’s impossible.

Are you overwhelmed by the gift of grace that gives you eternal salvation and a new life? Or do you take it for granted because it has become so commonplace to you?

This Easter season, make it a priority to thank God every single day for the gift of salvation. Watch and see how that simple act helps you remember that He is not only the main character of your story but also the hero.