We all have been scripted. In fact, we are all being scripted by multiple ideas, products, messages, words, and actions every single second of our day. These scripts even continue in our minds long after we encounter them. Each script speaks a language, some of them speak in multiple languages and dialects. Each one seeks to be seen as fresh, new, and exciting. Each one wants desperately to control our lives.
We script the people around us as well. The past two weeks, I have been teaching my students about the power of labels. The bible talks about labels a whole lot. Practically the entire book of James is about labels. Jesus is constantly tearing down the labels that society has placed upon people and he turns them upside down.
Scripting can never go away, nor should it ever go away. God is scripting us as well. In fact, it could be said that His big script takes into account all of the smaller scripts that we encounter each day. His language reinterprets the smaller languages of society. We see this in the gospels. When the widow puts her mite into the money bags, Jesus reinterprets what it means to live out the gospel. He doesn't suggest a new way of practicing the gospel, he just turns on its head the typical notions that humanity as about the world, life, and God. God does this in the book of Job as well. He looks at Job's friends and let's them know that their knowledge is incomparable to God. He also let's Job know that it is okay not to know.
Perhaps one way to teach the gospel well is to go through our day reinterpreting the events we see looking for moments that teach about the gospel. This is what Jesus did. Are we willing to challenge the status quo of our religion? Are we willing to break out the stereotypical boxes that we have put around our Christian faith? Watch your language! It is scripting people.
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