Can You See the Big Picture of Salvation?

Introduction

Sometimes we get too close to our problems and fail to see the larger framework that God is working out in history.

The Judeo-Christian bible teaches us that history is moving toward a divinely appointed goal, and it helps if we step back and look at it from a big picture perspective.  This approach is like looking at the top of a puzzle box to see how the puzzle pieces fit together to form a picture.

Have You Got The Whole Story

Mike Cain's article "Have You Got The Whole Story?" (click to view) is a really good overview of the story line of the Bible.

If you are having trouble seeing the big picture, this essay will help you.

It has a few British idioms in it so I've given the American "translations" below:

• "chocolate digestive biscuits" - a semi-sweet cracker, something like a Graham cracker with a milk-chocolate covering on top; frequently eaten with tea or coffee. 
• "Sainsbury bag" - a plastic shopping bag. Sainsbury is a large supermarket chain in the UK, probably like one of our Super Walmart stores.
• "sticking plaster" - a band-aid.
• "a bed-sit in Balham" - a one-room apartment in a neighborhood in south London.
• "holidays in Bognor" - Bognor is a seaside resort town on the south coast of England.

Two of my favorite quotes from the article:

Living for him is not shackles, it is freedom. And it is fun. Life with the one who made the stars and dragonflies is not long-faced and "bible black." The body is not a prison from which to escape. He made our bodies for us to enjoy. So he didn't give us fuel to stick in our sides, he gave us food to taste: he gave us pineapples, grilled sea bass, potato salad, chocolate fudge cake and raspberries

The Bible says God looked at what he made and called it, "very good."

When God expels Adam and Eve from the Garden, He also makes a promise. He promises that someone descended from this woman will come to put things right and restore us to life with God again. And the story of the bible turns out to be the story of God keeping that promise.