An Attitude Shift is Necessary
It is the Kingdom of God in the soul of every follower of Jesus that is unshakable.
A soul alive in that kingdom longs to live in the Larger Story God is telling, even as the world around is badly shaken, and will therefore know the mighty power of God that will provide “the endurance and patience” needed to stay close to God in the worst of storms.
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. Colossians 1:11
A shift in our thinking is required, from depending on self-care and a well-managed life to provide the blessings needed for personal comfort, to depending on soul-care and a meaningfully surrendered life for God to provide all that we need to live for no greater goal than to cooperate with the story God is telling.
And nothing opens our eyes to see and our minds to believe and our souls to trust God’s good and loving purpose quite like desperation.
“If eternity is the plan, then it makes no sense to shrink your living down to the needs and wants of this little moment.”
Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies
A Grand Creative Moment
“It would seem that one of the clearest and most concrete of the facts of history is the fact that men of spiritual resources” (update men to men and women) “may not only redeem catastrophe but turn it into a grand creative moment.”
Herbert Butterfield, Christianity and History
Believe that and the needed shift is made. It lies within our Spirit-supplied power to put catastrophe to good use even as our lives are ravaged by heartbreak, terror, and anguish. A grand creative moment can be embraced with joy as we redeem devastation into a display of a life lived in the Larger Story of God, a life revealing the reality of spiritual fruit even as we trudge through the weariness and sorrows of life.
This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us b e thankful and please God by worshipping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.
-Hebrews 12:27-29 NLT
Suggested Readings
Finding God
by Larry Crabb
When God's Ways Make No Sense
by Larry Crabb
Shattered Dreams
by Larry Crabb
A Different Kind of Happiness
by Larry Crabb
Get to know Dr. Larry Crabb
View sample videos from the Larger Story archive.
Or see our comprehensive guide of Larry’s Life work.
Living in the Larger Story | Episode 6 | Finding God
Dr. Larry Crabb is interviewed at the 2018 Convene Conference by Greg Leith
Living in the Larger Story | Episode 7 | God of My Father
“God, I’m Here for You” “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others.....