Just as we cannot control God, God did not make us to be controlled. That’s what robots or servants are for, but God didn’t make us either of those. He made us sons (and daughters) bearing his image. He wants lovers, choosers, intimate allies, beings who desire relationship with him as much as he does with us. So God made us free- willed, able to choose to love and to want him back.
God makes the first move and invites us to move in return. It is a responsive relationship, not a controlling one, and emulating him as his image bearers enlarges our lives. We were not created to live small. We were made to live big lives, glorious because they express the glory of God. But whenever we attempt to control, in all the unhealthy ways the word control can play out, we are choosing to live in the center of our story. And that is when the story gets really, really small. You were not created to be in the center of the story. But that does not mean you were not created to have an important part to play—a powerful role, large and significant, with good desires that come standard within the heart of every image bearer. We long to matter and want to belong because we were made to matter and made to belong.
Look at your story and the desires of your heart. They are telling you something about who you are and what you were made for. Author Dan Allender wrote, “Stories don’t give answers, but they do offer perspective.”3 And oh, how we need a good dose of perspective if we are going to take our place in the Larger Story and share in the life, live the life, that God created us to live.
