Flirting With DarknessSample

Weapon #4: Know You Don’t Have to Keep Being How You’ve Been 

Sometimes we struggle from the shame we carry from our past. The trajectory of our own stories can leave us feeling as though we are at a dead end. But before we are tempted to close the book on our happiness, let us remember that our story is still being written and that the past does not have to determine how our story will conclude.

Here’s the best news of all: Jesus is a great Rewriter of stories!

As an infant, He was taken to Egypt to escape Herod’s genocide of baby boys. Later, He returned with His parents to His homeland, was baptized with water, and spent 40 days in the wilderness undergoing temptation. These things really happened, but they have a significance beyond just giving us historical information about His life.

For when Israel was an infant country, it too was taken to Egypt. Then, as Israel returned to its homeland, it did so by passing through the waters of the Red Sea and spending 40 years in the wilderness.

Did you catch that? Both Jesus and Israel are taken to Egypt as babies, pass through the waters, and then spend 40 days/years in the wilderness.

Where do we learn about these parallels? They are highlighted in the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience…the then-modern descendants of the Israelites.

Jesus is, Matthew reveals, living out the very story of the chosen people. And He is God’s chosen Son, rewriting the story of redemption. That same God wants to retell your story.

He wants to redeem your past and give you new hope for the future. As Jesus promises at the tail end of the last book of the Bible, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). He doesn’t say that He makes all new things, but that He makes all things new. He finds people with a sad, old story of being trapped and ashamed and hopeless and helpless, and He reworks that story into a thing of beauty.

The Author of Faith is in the business of turning stories around and creating new, happier endings.

You are not stuck with your past or limited by your present. The future is still brimming with hope. All the chapters written so far are but a preparation for the grand plot twist which is coming.

Spoiler alert: Your story has a happy ending.

We hope you have found this YouVersion plan to be helpful! You can learn more about Ben Courson's latest book, Flirting with Darkness, here.