Stories

   

    I encourage my sons to read books. In the process, I noticed that some of the popular titles such as Big Nate and Diary of a Wimpy Kid may be amusing but they are not at all inspiring.

    As parents, it is important that that we guide our children and engage with them as they read. Reading then becomes an opportunity for teaching valuable life-lessons and spiritual insights, not merely for entertainment. Great stories help our children to understand that a spiritual world exists beyond the material world that they live in. It points them to the reality of God, who He is, what He is doing, and what He will do. They learn that the spiritual dimension helps give meaning and purpose to their lives here on earth. Author ND Wilson says:

"Feed your children stories that will keep their eyes wide with wonder when they look out their front windows or wander their yards. Feed them stories of joy and hardship and courage and tragedy and triumph. Give them heroes, real and imagined. Give them a taste for goodness, for truth, for beauty."

     Don't simply dismiss the power and wonder of stories. Ponder this: it is how God reveals his nature and his plan of redemption to persons like you and me. Someone said,

"The stories--the facts--give shape to the one we ought to worship. What God does shows who he is."

Read the Bible and you'll realize that it isn't a dry and boring book. Rather, it's full of fantastic and magical stories. Think of Moses rescuing Israel out from Egypt, Samson's amazing strength, Gideon's weaponless army of 300 men defeating the superior enemy, David slaying Goliath with a well-aimed pebble from a slingshot, Jonah in the belly of the whale, Isaiah's vision of God seated on His throne, the miracles and works of Jesus as told in the gospels, and many more stories in the Bible. There is no doubt that these are incredible stories but they were real events in history. They are not myths. These stories have a purpose and that is to demonstrate who God is and point us to his son Jesus Christ who "suffered once for sins, the unrighteous for the righteous, that he might bring us back to God (1 Peter 3:18). These stories are the foundation of New Testament theology. Read Paul's letters as well as the non-Pauline epistles. You will realize that their theology and doctrine largely come from Old Testament stories and the gospel accounts. In turn, these principles guide us in how to live as Christians who by grace are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. Ultimately, these stories greatly influence our practice in the kingdom of God.

     By the way, ND Wilson writes children's adventure and fantasy novels. I met him at a conference last year - funny guy and a great writer. I've read a couple of his books. There is the 100 Cupboards trilogy, a story about a boy who discovers mysterious cupboards in his room and they turn out to be portals into other worlds. If you like the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis then you will also enjoy the 100 Cupboards series. It's a great book for children as well as for grown-ups. And then there's Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl which he describes as "a narrative nature of the world and the personality of the Poet behind it all." He has this gift of looking this world a little bit differently than we do in order to show how colorful and wonderfully complex our great God is and he writes it all down in this book. He also recently wrote about the relevance of stories in this post from Desiring God : Stories are Soul Food : Don't Let Your Children Hunger.