Hebrews 12:2, New King James

"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Imagine your life as a movie. Who would the main character be? In every movie, there are major characters and minor characters. What happens to minor characters is not as important, because the story is about the major character.

I’m guessing that in the movie of your life, you may see yourself as the major character. But maybe we need to re-think that decision.

If you are the main character in your movie, then that means you will evaluate everything that happens in your life by its effect on you. How did it help you? Did it make your life easier? Did you get what you deserved?

But if Jesus is the main character of your story, then in everything that happens, you ask, “How can this contribute to His story?” The point is not how things benefit you but how they help you tell Jesus’ story. In having a lot or having little, in health or in pain, the question is, “How can I use this to glorify God?" When something bad happens, you may say, “Well, this wasn’t good for me, but how can this point people to the gospel?”

Many people would ask why they would make anyone but themselves the main character of their story. Here’s why: One day the curtain on your life will close, and the credits will roll, and if the story was all about you, it’s over.

If your story, however, was surrendered to Jesus’ story, then even after you leave this earth, you will get to participate and rejoice in a story that goes on forever and always ends in victory.

There are some films where the director has made an appearance in some of their films. Like the director of films, the author of history has written Himself into its story when God became man in the person of Jesus Christ. As we believe and confess, Jesus Christ was not simply another man who arose as a deliverer for God’s people. He was God-made-man—truly human and truly divine. He is God Himself, the one who created the world. 

The difference between movies where the director makes an appearance, and Jesus Christ is that Jesus doesn’t play an extra; He is the main character. His role in the script compels the entire story. The Lord doesn’t just write Himself into the story; He reveals Himself to be the single hope we have all longed for.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:1, 14, NLT).

To pursue our roles in God’s great story we must receive His greater purpose for us and walk by faith in the callings He’s put before us—in our families, at our jobs, among our friends, in our neighborhoods, and at our churches. What may seem in your life as mundane and even pointless is all accounted for by the author of your life. He has written everything. The story of your life before you were ever born. 

Your life does not find its significance in the shallow, temporary accomplishments this world acknowledges and in which you shine as the central character. Rather, your significance comes from God uniting you to Christ, and calling you as a light of His gospel. 

When we understand everything that Jesus does for us, He becomes the most important person in our lives, He gets the lead role.

As we walk in the good works God has prepared for us—loving Him and our neighbors, following Jesus, and making disciples, we will write ourselves right out of the world’s script and find ourselves in a much greater story. Let the author and finisher of your life also be the lead, the main role… your story will be so much sweeter!