God's Story vs. The World's Story Q&A
Brian Tolle

Recently, a group that Cara and I are a part of was digging into the topic of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the world. What's the difference? How do we know what story we are living in? What do we believe? It has been a great month being led through those discussions.

Our very good friend, Heather Hutzel, was leading our group. Heather is awesome. Her and her husband David have been obedient to the call of God in their life and have been working out how to live in that story day to day. Seriously, visit her page, read her book (and a new one coming out!), and sign up to receive her blog. Please do this :)

During our last group meeting, Heather had a panel of participants (and included Cara and I) to consider specific questions. I would like to share the questions she asked, and the answers we gave:

Why do you personally choose God's Story over the World's Story?
Sometimes we hear the anti-world or world’s story message and can mistakenly take it to mean anti-America. I don’t believe Jesus is anti-America or anti-world - he is pro-world. He is challenging us to a deeper identity. God continually invites us to be “set apart,” which is what the word holy means (Hebrews 10:10).

We are to come out of the empire (America) and become a new kind of nation— a global, transnational, beautiful people, a loving community whose identity and whose home is in Jesus. One of the final images we have in Scripture in the book of revelation is the call to come out of Babylon (the empire). We have a new identity - a new “we.” “We the people” is bigger than our nation.

Our hope is not in America or to make America great again, or Israel great again. Or any empire great again for that matter. Our job and hope is to pick up our cross and follow Christ. We have found the light of the world and the true last best hope on earth - and it is Jesus. Interestingly enough, the early Christians were called “atheists” because they had lost their faith in Rome and put it in Christ. 

What are some of the decisions you've made that you wouldn't have made if you were pursuing the World's Story?
The call to sell possessions like our car and specific music equipment to pursue living simply, so others could simply live. We have a clear vision to homeschool our kids. A vision clearly from God - because we would have never pursued that on our own! And we chose to operate from that obedience. It’s not easy living up to the standard American family. We couldn’t afford the American Dream. But we can afford the dream that God has given us. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as a result of choosing God's Story? What are some of the biggest surprises?
Staying obedient and not falling prey to believing that we need more “things”. The myth is that we buy something to “be” something. It’s easy to start believing we are incomplete without things that others have. But “things” cannot love. Only things that God creates have the ability to love. When we stay close to others in community, it helps us get out of that mindset.

Share what role community has played in your journey of pursuing God's Story.
We couldn’t do it without community! Seriously. The thing about community is that we don’t HAVE to do community – but that we GET to do community. Having a community of friends praying for us, processing with us, holding us accountable – that’s what the Church should look like (Acts 2:42 and following). We even had a couple (Matt & Traci) GIFT us their car. How crazy is that? They could do this because they believed that God gave them a vision to support us in our quest to eliminate debt. That is a beauty that can only be linked to Christ. When community truly plays a role in your life, it fascinates those around you. It draws others closer that ask, "Why?".

What keeps you accountable to choosing God's Story in your daily decisions?
Prayer, reading the Bible, conversations with each other as a married couple or with those who mentor us, and community. The early church "devoted" themselves to a lifestyle that sustained accountability and celebration. Meeting with a mentor (Elgin Emmons) who disciples me every week helps tremendously.   
 
How do you continue to be deceived by the World's Story (e.g. things you believe about yourself, things you believe about others, following the patterns of the world, etc.)?
It’s easy to still hear the whispers of the serpent, “did God REALLY say…”. God tells all of us that we are beautiful – but we believe we are still ugly. God tells us we are all created in the image of God, but many times I have a hard time seeing God in others. He tells us we are to bless and pray for those who persecute you, but at times it’s really hard to figure that out. As much as we desire to ignore the whispers of the serpent, sometimes we break down in our weakness and listen that voice anyway. And that’s the great challenge. It’s trying to be obedient to “take every thought captive” and to “pray without ceasing”. Without having a life following Jesus with others around you, the temptation becomes too great. 

(The artwork is The Kingdom of God by Julia Zanes)