The Storyteller - Martin Wiles

I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. 2 Timothy 1:5 NLT

He and his grandson ambled in and trudged to the opposite side of the room from where I sat. And the stories began.

As I waited on the pharmacist to fill my prescription, I watched the grandpa and his ten-year-old grandson enter the store and take a seat near me. When the grandson began asking questions about the old days, my attention went to the couple. Grandpa told him he could remember the first television his family bought.

“We didn’t have cable or satellite in those days, and the screen size wasn’t much larger than a computer screen. We hooked the television to an antenna to get channels. Sometimes, the channels were so snowy you could hardly see the picture.” Snowy. Now, there was a term I hadn’t heard in a long time.

As a grandpa, I’ve been thinking about those stories, too. Just the other day, as I dusted my milk bottle collection that sits atop a cabinet in my bedroom, I felt the need to tell a story. Calling our two oldest grandboys into the room, I began my story.

“Milk didn’t always come in containers such as we have now. It once came in bottles like this. And you didn’t go to the store to buy it. Milkmen, of which your great-great-granddaddy was one, delivered it to people’s houses and left it on the front porch.” Their eyes widened as I told the story.

Timothy—Paul’s spiritual son—had a mother and a grandmother who told stories. Stories about their faith. They passed along the story about Jesus to Timothy, and he believed.

Christ left believers a command to tell the story of what He has done for us on the cross. The story of how we can have our sins forgiven by believing in Him. The story of a new heaven and a new earth that awaits those who believe.

Telling the story requires variety and intentionality. While opportunities abound, we have to seize them, living with the story on our minds. The story is simple, and we don’t have to complicate it. So simple that a child can understand it. And when we live out the story in our actions and words, it becomes believable to those with whom we share it.

Ask God to help you become a storyteller of His love.

Prayer: Father, give us the courage to tell the story of Your love.

Tweetable: Are you a storyteller? 

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