BY TY KUCK
Our entire lives are made up of stories—stories we loved as children, superhero tales, the American dream, the ones we tell ourselves, the affirmations that build us up, and the lies that tear us down. The story we believe narrates our life and greatly impacts how we live, the decisions we make, the places we live, and the people we spend time with regularly. We tend to feel deep ownership over our lives and a sense of control over our destiny. In our minds, we are the main character in our story but are hesitant to play a supporting role. Sadly, our fallen world lives within this narrative, but as Christ-followers, we recognize a difference.
There is one story, not just Ty’s or Cathy’s, just God’s. It’s important to remember that God isn’t a character in our story. Rather, we are characters within his great redemption plan. We can decide to live in God’s story or with the idea that we have control over our narrative, but that doesn’t change anything. If we believe God is who he says he is, then we must understand, know, and live through his story. We all have an important responsibility of obedience to advance the gospel.
If you told a story about your body, you wouldn’t just focus only on the kidney. The kidney doesn’t make up all of the essential parts that support and help it to function in the body effectively. That isn’t to say the kidney doesn’t have an important job, as all parts of the body do. When we develop a better understanding of God’s story in its entirety, we begin seeing things through a gospel-centered lens. In doing so, selfishness and self-centeredness take a back seat and we’re reminded that life isn’t about us.
Our actions are a testimony to our faith—the deeper we believe, the more likely we are to put our faith into action. If we sincerely believe we’ve been blessed to bless others as Abraham was, we are more likely to hold things loosely and freely give our gifts, talents, time, and possessions with no expectation of return. If we believe deeply, we can steward our gifts well and extend grace to others more freely.
So, what does it look like to live into God’s story?
Well, the first step is to pursue life and mission with Jesus. Entering a relationship with Jesus looks like dying to ourselves and to the story we think we have control over. The same God who rewrites our self-idolized story rescues us from the depths of our sin. In order to truly live into God’s redemptive plan for our lives, we must take what we know in our heads about him and apply it to our hearts. A deep understanding of grace combined with a deep belief is where we can be the hands and feet of Jesus and advance the Gospel—the greatest story ever.
*We are a church located in Greenville, South Carolina. Our vision is to see God transform us into a community of grace passionately pursuing life and mission with Jesus.*
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Written by Ty Kuck
& Cathy Kuck
Originally from Ohio, Ty & Cathy Kuck moved to Greenville in 2016 and have been at Fellowship ever since. They have four young daughters. They love hosting group activities at our house, sharing food, and having fun with friends. They are passionate about building multigenerational relationships with members of the body through the Story of God as described in Acts 2.