"Relationships," quote 2

On Thursday, I posted a quote from Lane and Tripp's book Relationships on worshiping God as Creator. Today, I'm quoting from the section entitled, "If I am going to love you as I should, I must worship God as Sovereign." (emphasis mine; on page 63 of the book)



"We all know that our lives have not gone according to our plans. We all know that we haven't written our own stories. Paul says this is because our story has been written by another. God has specifically and personally determined the details of each of our lives. That is why my story is different from yours. God determined exactly where each of us would be born, the parents who would raise us, and the culture in which we would live. When I look at you, I need to see God's sovereign hand writing your story perfectly. The person you are and the responses you make to life have been shaped by his sovereign choices and your responses to the story he has written for you. He determiend that you would be part of the customs and culture of a certain ethnic group. He planned that you would be shaped by living in a certain geographical setting. He determined that you would live in a particular family, with all of its powerfully influential values and rules, spoken and unspoken. What is more, he determined that you would be involved in relationships and situations outside your home that would also have a powerful influence on everything you do. What is a relationship? The intersection of the stories of two people. The problem is that an awful lot of carnage takes place at this intersection.



"If I fail to honor God's sovereignty in the influences he has placed in your life and the way those influences have shaped you, I will attempt to take God's place and clone you into my image. I will tend to think my way is better than your way, my culture better than your culture, and my customs and manners more appropriate than yours. "