I’m talking specifically to you. Yes, you. One of you, out there right now.
Have you seen the movie The Neverending Story? If not, you should watch it. My kids recently saw it for the first time. A classic 1980’s fantasy film, it takes me straight back to childhood. The music still gives me goosebumps.
In it, a boy named Bastian finds an adventure book about a young warrior, Atreyu. Atreyu is on a quest for a cure to save his empress, but he can only save her if he enlists the help of the boy who is reading their story. Atreyu and the empress tell Bastian, through the book, that Bastian is that boy. That until Bastian gives the empress a new name, Atreyu’s world and the empress herself will die. But even though Atreyu and the empress describe Bastian, he refuses to believe that he is a part of the story. He simply doesn’t realize that he himself is the answer.
Finally, the empress perishing, the kingdom disappearing into the Nothing, the empress explains, “He simply can’t imagine that one little boy could be that important,” and then she pleads with him:
“Bastian! Why don’t you do what you dreamed, Bastian? Call my name! Bastian, please! Save us!”
Bastian, overcome, runs to the window and screams her name into the night. When he returns to the book, he finds out he has saved her and the kingdom.
And that’s you.
You’ve been reading this blog along with me. And you’ve realized that you don’t know the God I’m describing. Maybe you have believed Him to be religion. Or you have believed Him to be His Christians, people who have let you down. Or maybe He’s the One you’ve blamed for everything wrong. All the injustice and all the suffering. Or maybe He’s been more of an idea, someone you intellectually believe in, but not a real Person you intimately know.
You’ve not yet met the One who offers love instead of condemnation. Who loves you like a perfect Dad would, down to the smallest of your details. The One who gave us His life while we were still sinners. The One who made us, and is in love with us, and who offers us His everything if we’ll have Him.
You know I’m talking about YOU.
Your heart is beating faster. There’s a voice that tells you you’re crazy. You have excuses, this very moment. Things you are terrified to give up or lay down. You have your pride. What will others think? And you have all the reasons. Why you think He can’t possibly love you. Or forgive you. Like Bastian, you just don’t believe you’re a part of the story.
YOU ARE.
You ARE the story.
And this is your next step:
Accept His invitation. That’s it. Right now, where you are. Right this moment. It is no more complicated than that. “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13.
The answer is simply recognizing that Jesus is the answer— the One whose sacrifice allows us to once again draw near to God. He paid the price for our sin. He died so that we can live.
We aren’t here accidentally, and neither is our world. Each piece was artfully designed, crafted by a God who sees us not just as creations, but as children. He could have made us to be slaves, but He wanted us to have free will. To be able to reject Him if we wanted. And for that freedom He was willing to die. All we do in return is acknowledge the sacrifice. Not with our head, but with our heart.
That He wrote it this way is beyond us to fully comprehend.
It’s unthinkable really, that Jesus would lower Himself to the form of man and walk around in skin like ours. Feeling hungry or sick, or vomiting or urinating. And then to use that life not to be a celebrity, rich and famous. Not to pass his days stuffing his face at feasts, or enjoying women, or conquering the world. But to devote it— every second of it— to serving. To saving whom He could, and healing who would ask. Knowing all the while that it wouldn’t earn him praise, but contempt.
Most towns kicked him out, and hated his work. He spent his time, up until the end, with friends who constantly fell short: they often failed to understand what he was saying, or failed to hold to their faith in the face of fear, or even to stay awake with Him when He was scared. But oh, how He loved them! Despite it all. He was so sad to leave them behind, even on His very last night. He thought of them until the end. And then, to be rejected, spit upon, beaten, belittled, and persecuted. Denied by His own people, hung up on a cross to die while onlookers mocked and misjudged Him. And He didn’t call the whole thing off just to show them who was Boss. But died playing the fool. With a heart of love, with us in mind, He bore it all.
And it’s crazy unthinkable, that God the Father would send a tiny, perfect baby– His very own– into our twisted world. Letting imperfect humans keep his charge. That He’d look on lovingly as that child blossomed into a holy, obedient, impressive young man, loving His Father and loving the world. That God would let Himself feel so much love for that kid that His heart would swell with pride at the sight of him, at his words and his choices– his every breath being God’s very own heartbeat. And then, after letting Himself love him so deeply, that God would be faithful to ask him– the one who had done it all perfectly, His pride and joy, the apple of His eye– to die. Even as that boy begged to find another way, even as he sweated blood. That God sent him as a lamb to the slaughter, and stood by. Watched as they broke his bones, and broke God’s heart. And yet He purposefully did nothing. When His son needed Him most, when he cried out in pain, He turned His face away. That baby whose birth He watched over so meticulously, whose first breath He witnessed and ordained, He let him draw His final breaths alone, feeling His Father’s rejection. A price they both were willing to pay. The cost of sin.
All for YOU. All for us.
Because He saw the end from the beginning. He saw not just that moment, but all of eternity. He saw not just that one perfect baby He loved, but all of them. You— sitting where you are today in sin and death. And He wanted to rescue you whatever it took. To scoop You up in His arms and call you by name. And spend a lifetime loving you, and you loving Him.
But He wanted it to be your choice. Not forced. But real, true love. A real-life, always and forever, never-ending Story.
But you have to call out His name. You have to imagine that one little boy or girl could be that important. And you have to call out His name.
Please, Bastian.
Please.