Telling the Story

Richard B. Hays in his pivotal book on Christian Ethics states that the New Testament is not a unified dogmatic system of belief, but rather a collection of documents that tell and retell a common story. He summarizes the story this way...

The God of Israel, the creator of the world, has acted (astoundingly) to rescue a lost and broken world through the death and resurrection of Jesus; the full scope of that rescue is not yet apparent, but God has created a community of witnesses to this good news, the church. While awaiting the grand conclusion of the story, the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is called to reenact the loving obedience of Jesus Christ and thus to serve as a sign of God's redemptive purposes for the world.

 I often ask myself how am I doing at obeying Christ and striving to be a part of God's redemptive purposes for the world, which he loved so much he gave up his only Son!