STORY POWER: #2 The Impact Of Your Own Story

By Dr. Gilbert W. Stafford

Scripture: Acts 26:12-18

My wife was listening to a business leader talking about how to be successful. Something which caught her Christian ears, was his emphasis on telling one’s own personal story about the products and the business. “Personal story telling is a key to success in the business,” he said. Darlene’s response was: “That’s what Christians do in relation to Christ, isn’t it? We tell our personal stories, and they are powerful witnesses.”

She was right. In the Bible, stories play a very important role. They are critical for the spread of the gospel.

PAUL’S STORY

In the Book of Acts, for instance, we find the story of Paul’s conversion told no less than three times (9:1-19, 22:6-16, and 26:12-18). Evidently, this story was told because it personalized the message about the power of Christ to change human life. It is one thing to say in abstract terms that Christ has the power to change human life. It is quite another to give an actual account of that power at work in a person’s life. Such was Paul’s story.

The story as recorded in Acts 26:12-18 was told when he defended himself before King Agrippa. It reads: “With this in mind, I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’ I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”1

THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF PAUL’S STORY 

Notice these characteristics about Paul’s story:

First, it is personal. He tells where he was, what he was about, and some of the details as to what happened.

Second, it is connected with a story which extends beyond his personal experience. When Paul is asked why he is persecuting the Lord, he replies, “Who are you, Lord?” (emphasis mine). Paul’s response indicates that he knew who was addressing him; it was the Lord. The Lord, then, identifies himself to Paul by saying, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” In other words, Paul already knew what was happening to him was connected to a story beyond himself. It was connected to the story of the crucified and risen Christ who had, by this time, ascended into heaven. It was connected to the church which had been telling the resurrection story which had reached at least as far north as Damascus. So, what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus was interconnected with the stories of a wider community of faith. Up to this point his story had been a negative part of the church’s story. Now, however, as a result of his conversion, it was a positive part of that wider, communal story. What happened to him, then, was not just a disconnected, private experience of God; instead, it was a story which had wider connections.

The third characteristic of the story is that it had a point. The point was that God was calling him to a particular mission. That mission was so well focused in his mind and heart that he was able to enunciate it clearly. He said that he was being sent “to open...eyes so that...[those who hear] may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

APPLYING THESE CHARACTERISTICS TO US 

I now turn to us. We, too, have stories to tell. The stories which carry the greatest weight are those with these same three characteristics. They are personal; they are connected to the wider community of faith; they have a point.

Let’s talk about each of these components:

First they are personal. What is your own personal story? What has God done for you? What were the circumstances? What happened? Every believer has a personal story of faith to tell. Sometimes we may think that our personal stories are not valuable. But that is wrong. Every person’s story is valuable in that each one is unique. Since no two persons can be at the same place at the same time, each person’s story is one of a kind. Regardless of how similar they may be, they are, nevertheless, special.

Your story is one of the most precious possessions you have. You are the only person in the history of the world who has your particular story. Therefore, the story of God’s grace in your life is a story which no one else in the world can duplicate exactly.

Be a good steward of your story. Don’t allow anyone to rob you of it. Handle it with care. Don’t change it so that it sounds exactly like someone else’s. Let their story be theirs, and yours yours.

Second, our stories need to be connected with the bigger story of faith. Personal stories are hard to understand when they are disconnected from the community of faith, and from its history. They need to be connected with the Bible story, and, more particularly, with the story of Jesus Christ. In order for personal stories to be rightly understood, they need a social, historical, communal context.

Let me give you a common, everyday example. If I were to tell you that the other night I dreamed about eating a meal of soup beans, corn bread and cooked cabbage, you might interpret it as being a nightmare of punishment, especially if you despise soup beans, corn bread and cooked cabbage. But that is incorrect. The reason you might misinterpret my story is because you do not know the interconnectedness it has with my family. You do not know the social and cultural context for it. So let me place my personal story about soup beans, corn bread and cooked cabbage within the wider context. You need to know that our family likes those foods. They stand for family warmth and enjoyment. For instance, even after coming to teach at Anderson University School of Theology, mother would call us up, from time to time, to see whether Darlene and I could come, on the spur of the moment, to eat such a meal. We always accepted the invitation immediately and could hardly wait until it was time to go. Mother is now deceased. Therefore, to dream of such a meal is to dream about lots of fun and pleasant food at the family table. And so, my personal story about having that kind of dream makes sense only when it is interconnected with the larger family history.

The same is true about our personal stories of faith. They are understandable to the degree that they are interconnected with the larger family history which we find in the Bible and in the ongoing history of the church.

Third, personal stories are powerful when they have a point. What have we learned in the midst of the story? What are the insights which grow out of our experiences?

Sometimes a person says to another, “You have so much to teach me from your wealth of experience. Will you share your insights with me?” When persons say that sort of thing they are asking others to share the point of their life experiences. They want to know what others have discovered.

Out of our stories come a sense of perspective as to what our lives are really about. Paul, on the basis of his Damascus road experience, came to have such a perspective. He was not meandering around aimlessly. He knew that God had called him to a particular task. To that task he was committed for as long as he lived.

THREE QUESTIONS 

And so, my friend, how about you? I have three questions, which will help you to focus on your own life.

First, are you a good steward of your own personal story? I assure you that you have something important to say. Don’t allow anybody to rob you of your story. The way to be a good steward of it is to tell or write it. I urge you to share the story of your faith journey. Give your testimony.

Second, is your story interconnected with the wider story of faith? What God has done in Israel’s history, and in Christ, and in the church is the context for your own personalized story of faith. Don’t let your story be merely private. Allow it to be measured by and enriched by the bigger story of faith.

Third, does your story have a point? God wants to do something important with and through you at this juncture in your life. Your life does have a point. Everything that has happened to you, to date, is preparation for the particular mission which God has for you here and now, and in the future.

Regardless of who you are, or where you are, you have the power of a personal story of faith. Go ahead and let it have the impact which the Lord wants it to have. Tell your story. Give your testimony. Only you have your story.

PRAYER 

Let us pray:

Gracious Lord of the story, liberate us, by the power of your Spirit, to tell our personal stories of faith. Grant to us the wisdom to plug into the wider Christian story. Clarify for us anew what our lives are about. Open our mouths that we may give testimony about your grace at work, yes, even in us. This we pray in the name of Christ. Amen.

1 New Revised Standard Version used here and throughout.

Script 2572 (GWS)
April 14, 1996
SERIES: STORY POWER
2. “The Impact of Your Own Story”
Scripture: Acts 26:12-18