Life’s a Script

Background: The term “script” is very meaningful to me because I’m a videographer. Whenever I’m hired to do a project, a script has to be written first. It is always the toughest part of the job. The shots, called a storyboard, are listed in one column and the accompanying narration is written in another column. 
    From the completed script then flows the “virtual reality” called a film.
    Each of us has a detailed script called the Book of (Our) Life. It was written in advance of our being born. Psalm 139:16 says “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” “The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” (Revelation 20:12)

(chart)



This fractal “flow chart” represents the decisions, conscious and unconscious, I must make in the next five minutes. 
I call them “crossroad decisions,” because I truly arrive at a Y-junction. We have to decide, often instantly but occasionally with time to reflect, whether we’re going to say “no” to our flesh and follow God or whether we’re going to take the easy road downhill and follow our flesh. It’s a God vs. Satan choice whether we want to admit it or not.
    God wants to get us from Point A to Point B using the most direct route. He wants us to become mature, to grow up fast. Choosing God at crossroads obviously makes that happen. Paul makes this point in 2 Corinthians 4:10-11 when he says we’re “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus...always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake.”
    How do we make the right choice? Where do we find the strength to make a difficult decision?
    Simple: we remember what happened on the Cross.
    Jesus paid the price for each fleshly choice we make (or made). His heavenly transaction not only covers the penalty of having sinned in the past (if we chose that downward route) but it also provides a way out, an upward victory, the strength to overcome that very sin before it has happened!
    Otherwise we’re left to our own self-righteous devices, which means gritting our teeth in our flesh, trying to do the right thing. Or making excuses for why we don’t.
    If we take time to remember the Cross, amazing things will start to happen.
Comments: This describes our personal script in the broadest sense. It is possible to know some of it from God’s point of view (that is, eliminating the branches and seeing only the single upward path). The Holy Spirit enables a sneak peak of short segments when people are given a Word of Knowledge or a Word of Prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:29-33 and 1 Corinthians 12:7-11).


    Sometimes the decision is very difficult. It’s not a simple “right vs. wrong” based on our general knowledge of God’s Word. It might require a fine distinction between “good vs. best.” Searching out an answer, nevertheless, keeps our feet on a path–the way–always sniffing for God’s scent. David made a “good” choice by taking refuge in the walled town of Keilah. But the “best” choice was to vacate and keep on the run. 1 Samuel 23:7-13 is a fascinating look at God’s ways when the Holy Spirit is not very talkative.


    Remembering the Cross is an art, a skill that can be cultivated. At first, there’s an intellectual, academic feel to it. But with practice, a significant “something” blooms and becomes meaningful to you. When I walk my neighbor’s dog there are times when I know Sophie would rather follow her basic instincts rather than what I want. As she struggles to overcome that Y-junction, she...yawns vigorously, then follows me. If only we could learn how to “yawn” spiritually!


    According to Psalm 139:24 we’re to pray, “lead me in the ancient way.” I believe that ancient way is the scripture we teamed up with God to write before the beginning of time. Just a few verses earlier, verse 13, we admitted to God: “you formed my inward parts.” Our inward parts include our soul, which is our “software.” Not only broad generalities like personality traits but specific, moment by moment programming we chose at the onset. 
    Our “paths” were marked out in advance. Note verse 3 of Psalm 139: “you search out my path.” He’s ahead of us, lighting the way, but our ego causes us to believe we’re choosing it all by ourselves.