A Grander Story: Part Two
If the ultimate story is God’s story, and if our story finds its significance in light of God’s story, would it not follow that your particular life story is insignificant?
The Scriptures resoundingly refute such thinking: God created each of us for the purpose of playing a unique role in his grand story.
In Psalm 139:13-16 the author notes:
“For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them."
Each of us is handmade by God; these might be the most soul-encouraging verses in the Bible. God creates us for his purposes, and each of us is perfectly fashioned for him, and his plan for us.
In Ephesians 2:10 the Apostle Paul expresses a similar thought: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Every faculty, whether a full professor or adjunct, whether at an elite R-1 university or the local community college, has been created by God, gifted by God, and called by God to play a unique role in God’s plan. These good works will include works with students and colleagues, works within a department and across a discipline, and works done to bring hope to the world. It’s a stirring thought to think God created you, gifted you, and called you to play a particular role in changing the world, from your unique place in the academy.
You were created for this Grander Story.
Faculty Commons resources Christian professors and engages these professors in various strategic missional efforts, both on local campuses and around the world. We also engage students, both undergraduate and graduate, in various partnerships with professors.
For example: we encourage Cru students to pray for each of their professors, to work hard in class, and to seek opportunities to encourage or bless their professors.
Our challenge to them is something like this: “You think you are in Econ 204 (or whatever) because i) it didn’t meet on Friday, and ii) it didn’t meet before noon and iii) it was the easiest class you could take to fulfill your graduation requirements. But what if you are in that class because God put you there? What if God wants to use you in the life of the particular students in this class? What if you are in that class because God wants to use you to bless your professor?”
Students are stunned by the thought. A grander story perspective changes everything, even sleepy attendance in Econ 204.
Similarly, many Christian professors can likewise be tempted to think they, too, are in a particular job or location solely because it was the best opportunity they could secure.
Very few, from our experience, would seem to view their current professor position as something that i) God created them for; ii) God gifted them for; iii) God called them to; and a place from which iv) God can use them to help change the world.
But when we embrace these four truths, our vocations find new meaning. We literally begin to discover the good works that God has prepared for us. Nothing can be more thrilling.
-- Rick Hove and Heather Holleman
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