Exploring Faith
There are a few things that are particularly important to us. We try and make these things a priority focus.
God’s Big Story
We live in broken world. I imagine we would have universal agreement that things are not good. Humanitarian tragedy is found in all parts of the globe. Crime is a problem in
every community. Mental health challenges a growing number of people. And there’s so much more that we could talk about.
A friend shared a simple drawing with me to help imagine the difference between the brokenness of now and our hope for a better future. In this drawing we can imagine the world as the big outer circle. The smaller inner circle is our world, and we live in that world with friends, work mates, and family. What’s challenging is that the broken world we live in impacts us personal world. It constantly collides with our little world with violence, tragedy, sickness, and a range of physical, mental, and spiritual heartaches. If we’re honest, we’re not that perfect either as we struggle to control our emotions, health, and circumstances. When I look at my own life, or the wider world around me, it’s clear that things are not good.
So, we live in a broken world. But it wasn’t meant to be like that. In fact, the world was created perfect. You may find the idea of an all-powerful creative being giving life to the world hard to imagine. Yeah, it’s a mind-blowing concept. However, we think the idea of the world coming into existence with no outside help is even harder to imagine. But that’s a tangent for the moment. Important, yes. But not the focus of this story. The point is God created the whole universe with absolute perfection. It was without fault. No sickness, no sorry, no death. It was also more like a perpetual holiday, and the first people didn’t have to work as hard.
OK, so God created a perfect world. What went wrong? If God created everything so perfectly, why is it so messed up now? In short, people decided that they wanted to take control. We thought we could manage things just fine without God. We were his creation, but we betrayed him. The consequences led to a breakdown in God’s original design. We have now brought shame upon ourselves.
The world was perfect and now it’s not. It’s like missing out on that perfect deal. You have your eye on a new pair of shoes and because you took your time to go shopping, they sold out of your size. If only I had of gone to the shopping centre last week! Regret creeps in! But, there’s great news in The Story of God
God still loves the world he created. More than, he wants to reconnect. God’s desire is to remove our shame and fix our broken relationship. His strategy is Jesus. This part of the story is intense. Jesus, who is intimately a part of God, was sent to earth from heaven to restore our broken lives. For this to be effective, it required extreme pain and suffering. Jesus died, and to achieve restoration of our relationship with God and the removal of our shame, Jesus also came back to life. This is substantial because it proves who Jesus is and that he has the power to do what he was sent to do. Through a restored relationship with Jesus, we are restored for better. The broken world still exists, but we begin to be changed and the damage the world tries to inflict it’s upon us is overpowered. We have new life. We become new creations
.png "Restored for Better")
.png "Sent Together to Heal")
At this point, things are looking up. The story has had a positive plot twist. This is good news! And there’s even better news to come at the end of the story. But for now, we are being restored for better. We are being changed and we now have a better purpose. Together, we experience the goodness of God and get to share that goodness with others. Now, we are sent together to heal this broken world. Obviously, we can’t fix everything. It’s a big mess and there’s a lot to do. But we have the presence of God with us. He gives us strength, a vision, and power to make a difference. You can see in the diagram that the world is still damaged by evil… but we are making a difference in our space. Things will be better than what they would be if we didn’t take any action.
The grand finale to The Story of God is a perfect ‘happily ever after’ ending. Everything gets so much better... At the end of time, God is going to make everything right. He’s going to fix everything. Everything will be restored back to the original design. The bible describes the future as a new heaven and a new earth. God is restored to his rightful place at the centre of all creation. We have a perfect relationship with the one who created us. He has set everything right. The world is perfect. We are at peace. Our relationships are healthy.
God’s Big Story is a story of restoration, and he invites you to become a part of the story. If you would like to know more about Christianity and God’s Big Story, there’s several paths you can take.
- You can read a Bible. If you don’t have one, you can download the You Version Bible App for free, or drop into our bookshop and buy your own bible. Or you can contact our church office and request a free bible. Once you have a bible, we suggest you treat it like a mini library containing several books. Look up the index and find the book called ‘Mark’. This is a great place to learn more about how Jesus fits into the Story of God – Jesus is the central character of the whole story. Another good starting book is Luke. Matthew and John are also great. The very first book in the bible is Genesis, that’ll help fill in some of the background – how God created the universe and how things came to be so messed up.
- A fun way to learn about The Story of God is with others. Alpha is a course we run regularly specifically for people exploring. You don’t have to believe anything, just be curious. You learn what Christian is, who Jesus claims to be, and have framework from which you can decided if this is for you. Contact our church office or follow this link to register your interest.
- Attending church is another great way to get a feel for who Jesus is and what it’s like to connect with people to follow the ways and practices of Jesus. You’re welcome to come along to church and just observe. Or if you want, get involved with as much of it as you want. Church has live modern music, public bible talks, and great community, plus so much more.
- You can also reach out of us digitally via email or on social media. We would be very happy to connect with you.