My Story in Scriptures

The Pixar hit movie "Up" began with an 8 minute montage of the story of a shy young boy who married his childhood sweetheart. But she died young without having any children. The movie then begins with him as a lonely grumpy unfriendly old man who had lost the love of his life. The montage was my favorite part of the entire movie, for it moved me more than the rest of the movie. I would have been quite satisfied if I had just watched the montage, which was itself well worth the price of admission.

As I begin 2022, this is my story not in a montage of pictures, but in the Scriptures that have shaped and formed my life for the last 40 years.

1. Emptiness (Gen 1:2): "The earth was formless and empty..."
2. God (Gen 2:17): "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil..."
3. First (Mt 6:33): "But seek first his kingdom..."
4. Self-denial (Lk 9:23; Mk 8:34; Mt 16:24): "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves..." ["If anyone would come after me he must deny himself"].
5. Peace (Jn 14:27; Phil 4:7): "My peace I give you." "The peace of God that passes human understanding..."
6. Love (Jer 31:3): "I have loved you with an everlasting love."
7. Sovereignty (Rom 8:28): "And we know that in all things God works for the good..."
8. Harm (Gen 50:20): "You intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done..."
9. Fear (Prov 29:25): "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe."
10. Control (Gen 3:5; Rom 1:21): "You will be like God." "They neither glorified him as God..."
11. Restoration (Ps 23:3): "He brings me back."
12. Being judged (1 Cor 4:3): "I care very little if I'm judged by you or by any human court..."
13. Cross/Gospel (1 Cor 1:23; 2:2): "We preach Christ crucified." "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." A theology of the cross cf. a theology of glory.
14. Discipline (1 Cor 9:27): "I discipline my body and keep it under control" (ESV). "I beat my body and make it my slave..."
15. New (2 Cor 5:17,21): "New creation." "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us."
16. Thorn (2 Cor 12:7):  "...in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me."
17. Life (Ac 20:24,27): "I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news [gospel] of God's grace."