Living the Story

No one wants to read a boring story, no one wants to watch a boring movie, but yet most people go through life without ever thinking of the fact that their lives are stories also. Just as we don’t want to spend some time watching a boring, movie, like all of those indie films that you watch and end up going “huh? That’s it?” There are three things that every good story has. I bet you can think of what they are: car chases, vampires, and zombies. Well maybe not all of the good stories have those three things. But really, all stories have three essential elements: a character, who wants something, and overcomes conflict to get it. Think of a movie that you have seen that does not have those three elements. I bet if one of those elements were missing you would walk out of that movie theater and demand a refund. Even the Bible, has these three elements. In fact, in the Hebrew translation Saul drives a Hummer chasing David on a motorcycle, how do you think Moses turned the Nile into blood…vampires, and who was Lazarus? Zombie, that’s right. But really, Jesus is the author, producer, director and star of the story that is the Biblical narrative. What does he want? He wants His people to turn to Him, glorify Him and make His name great. There is plenty of conflict in the Biblical narrative, just read Judges. So again, without a character, wanting something, and overcoming conflict to get it, you get nothing.

The first element of a good story is the character: the character has to sacrifice. The character will do something for someone else that makes the person watching the movie feel for the character. You have to empathize with this character. The character can have flaws, but you have to care about this character and that comes from doing something for someone else. You ask yourself the question, “Do I care that this character succeeds?” If you don’t care that the character succeeds then your story will fail. I watched “The Expendables” this summer. The movie had all sorts of explosions and more body parts flying in every direction than any movie I had ever seen. But, throughout the movie I kept asking myself, “Do I really care if these characters succeed?” I had to answer no, and despite all of the conflict or explosions in the movie, I left the theater disappointed.

The second element is to want something. If at any point in the story you do not know what the character wants, then you. Will. Get. Bored. It also matters what the person wants. If your character’s goal in life is to die with the most cars in his garage and the character goes the whole movie accumulating vintage import cars from far and wide and you get to the end of the movie and no one is crying. Why? What the character wants is not meaningful. The character should want something great. The character should want something meaningful. Rocky wants to be the World Heavyweight Champion, Luke Skywalker wants to bring balance to the force, and Edward Cohen wants blood…and Bella.

Finally, the character has to overcome conflict. We assume that we are not supposed to have conflict in our lives. If I could only have the new iPad then my life would be complete, I would never want again. I don’t even know what an iPad does, but if I had one I could die happy. We are taught by our culture that if there is conflict in our lives there is something wrong. God intends for there to be conflict in our lives. Conflict was present even before the fall. Genesis 2: Adam is lonely, incomplete, to say it another way: he wants something. I am not saying that conflict is easy. Conflict is difficult and can even be painful. What comes along with conflict? Fear. And fear leads to hate and hate is the path to the dark side. Conflict also brings meaning to what we want. If something is easy it is rarely worth pursuing. Anyhow, we do desire that the conflict ends, and that happens at the Act III climax. When does that happen in our story? When Jesus returns. The Jews, when they saw Jesus expected him to be the Messiah who would bring about that Act III climax, and they thought that the story would essentially be over. The Kingdom would be upon them there would be judgment, return of the exiles, and they would receive land, the temple would be restored and a number of other promises. So we live in a strange chapter of this metanarrative. We know the end of the story, Jesus wins and Satan is defeated. But we still experience conflict because of the already but not yet nature of how Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom.

So, live a good story. Be a meaningful character in the story that God is telling. After all, it is the greatest story ever told. Sacrifice for the sake of others. Don’t run from conflict but live fully in it. Let conflict give meaning to your life. Finally, at some point in your life, get in a car chase where you are hunting down a team of zombies and vampires. The end.