get so wrapped up in our little parts in the story that we forget we are only the supporting cast. God is the central character. But like any story, the supporting characters are what drives the story forward, without them there is no story just a lead actor, acting alone.
"In a story you are caught up in the action, do you ever think about the author?
We identify with the characters because they are IN the story. We love the hero because he is one of us, he becomes stronger and wiser in the story and gives us hope that we will prove to be the same some day. What if we saw God not as the Author, the cosmic mastermind, but as the central character in a larger story (Eldredge/Curtis)."
God did not need the created to have someone to love him. As Eldredge explains in Chapter six of the Sacred Romance, God is perfect love. Within the Trinity, the perfect love happens. The story is complete. But real love creates a generous opennes to reach out with that love and so God calls us up into the perfect love of the trinity. God created the universe out of love, he sent Jesus to show us the way into His perfect love. God became part of the story on our playing field for the second time, the first time being when he walked among us in the Garden of Eden.
When Jesus left earth, he went to prepare a place in heaven for us, and God sent his Holy Spirit to come and empower us to finish the work that is left to do on the earth. That work is to free the hearts of others to live in the love of God. Why is there work left? "Love complicates the life of God as it complicates all of our lives," Elderedge explains. The fact is that no matter how much power someone has they can not force you to love them. Maybe they can make you say the words but they can not force the heart. The truth is that God allows free will to control our hearts and let us choose to love or not. This is true love and anything else is hypocrisy.
God doesn't need our love because remember he is a member of the trinity, which is in itself perfect love. However, because we are loved by the trinity we impact the trinity as truly as they impact each other.
So what is God's motive as the hero of our story, what does he overcome to become wiser and stronger, what is it that he becomes that gives us hope that we will become the same some day? Do you know the answer?
Do you let God be the hero of your story? Do you identify and love the hero? Do you have the hope your hero has overcome for you?
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