Divine Drama

I just started a book by Michael Horton called A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship. In the second chapter he summarizes a common postmodern mindset and compares it to a movie script. Instead of man recognizing his place in God's master drama of the universe, he wants to star in his own impromptu monologue. Here's a great quote from pg. 34:

While today our identities are more the scattered clippings of ideal images packaged and marketed to us in a barrage of advertising masquerading as entertainment, the "self" who is rendered in the biblical drama of redemption is a solid self only because he or she belongs to a story that is much larger than oneself. In the former, the identities of others (usually celebrities) are consumed and made a part of my life and identity. In the latter, the real identities (not images) of the many biblical characters become the context in which my life makes sense. It is here where strangers and aliens finally belong to God and become part of his family throughout history. In the former, even God himself is "appropriated," drawn into our script, ending in futililty, while in the latter, even the most villainous character can be drawn into the divine drama by the director as a new character.

Because this book was copyrighted in 2002, reality TV (which is probably America's current main type of entertainment) had not nearly reached the level that it has in the last couple years, and it did not have the impact that it has today. Michael Horton could not have had a full understanding of where it would lead, though entertainment was already headed that way. His perception of what was happening is accurate, and things are so much worse now. Today it has truly caused people to think that they can be the next celebrity and star in a TV show if only Hollywood would discover them. It makes them completely focused on themselves, and they spend endless amounts of time and money making themselves appear better.

I love how he summarizes the attitude we should have. We should recognize that we are part of the grand drama of the universe. God has chosen to use both those of us that love Him and those who don't to make His name great and His glory shine. And, by God's grace, we can even have joy in this fact. Christians get to enjoy making much of Him forever. This gives true meaning to life.

There is no situation in life where you can make plans and arrange things and just add God in later. He writes the script and directs the drama. Therefore, He is the foundation upon which we build everything that we do in life. I pray that God would increasingly show me my role in His master plan, and use me to bring glory to His name forever.