O give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Psalm 105:1-3 ESV
There have been twenty-nine tournament winners during the 2024 PGA Tour season. But one man emerged as the main character—Scottie Scheffler. Despite dominating his peers, Scottie is humble and grateful. He works hard and wants to win tournaments, but he also knows he is one player (person) in God’s story.
It’s easy to give thanks and praise God when we experience success in our work, when our financial positions bless beyond our basic needs, when our relationships are thriving, and when our health is good. During these seasons, we quickly identify with the honorable characters in the Biblical stories we read. We could never be like the unrighteous, so we believe.
Writer Erna Kim Hackett calls this “Disney Princess theology.” “As each individual reads Scripture, they see themselves as the princess in every story. They are Esther, never Xerxes or Haman. They are Peter, but never Judas. They are the woman anointing Jesus, never the Pharisees. They are the Jews escaping slavery, never Egypt.”
We might call this a consumer relationship with God that leads to believing we are victims when hardship, disappointment, or failure occurs rather than moving towards genuine self-examination. We ignore our ungodly characteristics naively assuming we are always the objects of God’s love and never his discipline.
Along with this skewed view of ourselves, The Disney Princess theology creates an assumption that we are the main character of God’s story instead of the other way around. We believe the story is all about us – our sin, our redemption, our purpose.
Psalm 105 reminds us that while the individual stories of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron are significant highlights in God’s narrative, none of these men were the main character. God didn’t enter their stories. They entered God’s story.
Following Jesus is not about inviting him into your life. It is about Jesus inviting you into the story of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father.
Whose story are you living in? Yours or God’s?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for inviting me into your story. Help me to remember it’s not about me. It’s about you.