“Life can only be understood backward; but it must be lived forward.”
— Søren Kierkegaard

If you viewed your life like a novel, who would you want to be the author of your story?

Most of us have been taught that we are “the captain of our own souls,” who write our own stories through hard work and self-determination (there’s that word, “self,” again).

That all sounds good, but how has it worked out for you so far? Would you do it all over again? Are you happy with the outcome of your self-forged legacy?

In James 4:13-16, the Apostle James wrote about the folly of living your own life on your own terms:

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”

You Could Hire a ‘Ghost Writer’

So, suppose someone like J.K. Rowling, Tom Clancy, Stephen King or John Grisham offered to write your story for you? Or better yet, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien or William Shakespeare? 

Then, all you would have to do is live your life according to THEIR script to become successful in your own right.

Now, let me do you one better …

The Actual Author of Life

Yes, there is yet another option. One that guarantees ultimate eternal success, accompanied by a sense of significance for your life beyond your wildest imagination.

What if the God of the universe offered to write your story FOR YOU?

And furthermore, He offered to personally empower you to be able to play your part in the story in a manner that infinitely exceeds your natural talents and abilities?

It’s true. God is recruiting volunteers now to join him as family members and partners in the loving fellowship of those taking part in “a tremendously creative project, under unimaginably splendid leadership, on an inconceivably vast scale, with ever increasing cycles of fruitfulness and enjoyment,” as Dallas Willard put it. 

The only condition to this offer is that you be willing to let God Author your story and that you agree to do your best to avoid going off-script — this is otherwise known as sin.

Riding God’s Spiritual Wave

To switch metaphors briefly, every surfer knows that to survive in the ocean, he mustn’t fight the waves, but ride them.

Now imagine those giant waves as God’s will. All you must do is “ride” the waves by carefully listening for the gentle Voice of the Holy Spirit within you.

This was promised a long time ago in Isaiah 30:20-21: 

“Although the Lord has given you bread of deprivation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”

And you thought AI was cool. Who else could possibly know you better?

You could ask, “Does the God of the Universe really care about little old me?”

Read this from Psalm 139:1-5;13:

“Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I get up;
You understand my thought from far away.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, Lord, You know it all.
You have encircled me behind and in front,
And placed Your hand upon me …” 

“For You created my innermost parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.”

If the One who formed you with His own hands doesn’t know you, who does?

How About You?

Still stumbling around trying to write your own story? Good luck.

Pregnant Stillness

All my life I’ve wondered,
Why God is silent when I plead,
“Since my days are numbered,
What work have You decreed?”

So, I go about my day,
Tending tasks that lie nearby:
Urging friends to always pray,
Ever mindful God is nigh …

Listening hard for broken hearts,
Lending faith to those with none.
Dodging Satan’s fiery darts,
Pointing men to God’s dear Son.

Then it dawns on me like a gong,
He’s been answering all along …
— D.C. Collier