​Every worldview has a metanarrative which just means every worldview whether secular or biblical has “an overarching story or storyline that gives context, meaning, and purpose to all of life” (gotquestions.org). The secular metanarrative begins with millions of years (evolution) and ends with nothingness because secularists believe that when we die, we simply cease to exist. That’s pretty hopeless! The biblical metanarrative begins and ends with purpose, intention, and the love of a Father. The biblical metanarrative can be described in three words: creation, fall, redemption.

Creation

In Genesis chapter 1 God intentionally creates the world and everything in it in
six literal 24-hour days. Nothing He creates is by accident or without purpose and
design. He provides everything needed for humans to flourish before putting humans on
the earth: light, water, land, vegetation, day and night, etc. Then He creates man and
woman. On day six God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness. And let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over
the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth” (Gen. 1:26, ESV). God not only gives man a purpose: to have dominion over the
earth, but He also creates man in God’s own image. God doesn’t do that for any other
created beings, not even the angels!

Fall

God created boundaries for the first man and woman by giving them one
prohibition in the garden in which He placed them to live: “And the Lord God
commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…” (Gen. 2:16-17a).
Unfortunately for them and us, they did not obey. The serpent, Satan, questioned God’s
Word, which he still does today; and Eve ate the fruit. Eve gave some to Adam, and he
ate too (Gen. 3:1-6). Because of their disobedience, sin entered the world, and with sin
came separation from God.

But this situation is not without Hope! In Genesis 3:15, we see the first mention
of a redemption plan that will bring us back into right relationship with God. “The Lord
God said to the serpent… ‘And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and
between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his
heel’” (NLT). Did you catch that? God has a plan where Satan will receive a death blow
(a strike on the head), and one of Eve’s offspring will receive a bruise on His foot. Who
is it that will receive an injury that will not ultimately result in death? That’s Jesus! Jesus’s death, which resulted in a resurrection, is what redeems us from sin. Even when sin
entered the world, God offered Hope!

Redemption

The separation from God that happened when sin entered the world has affected
everything in our lives. Relationships fall apart, we lie to keep ourselves out of trouble,
words are said in anger, hate and rage become commonplace, and the list goes on and
on. When the sin in our lives continues to compound itself daily, how can we ever face a
holy God? The answer is… we can’t. We are never good enough, never clean enough
to come to a holy God. How then can we be redeemed? We need Someone Who can
make us clean, Someone Who can pay for our sins so that we can be made right with
God. That Someone is Jesus.
The truth of God’s Word tells us that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God…” (Rom. 3:23, ESV), and the punishment for sin is death, “For the wages of sin
is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). We
are unable to save ourselves; there are not enough good works that we can do to make
ourselves righteous. Therefore, the sinless Son of God made Himself a sacrifice on our
behalf; He would die in our place: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no
sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). To be
saved, there is only one thing we must do and that is “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and
you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31). All we must do to be saved, redeemed by God, is by
faith, fully trust in Jesus alone as our Savior. One day God’s plan of redemption will be
complete and all of creation will be fully restored.
​
Conclusion

The biblical metanarrative of creation, fall, and redemption gives “context,
meaning, and purpose” to our lives. It explains why the world and people are the way
they are. It explains why we need a Savior, and it offers Hope to us by showing us that
God has a plan and purpose for us. I pray that you will get into the Word of God this
week and read it for yourself. I particularly pray that you will think about salvation and
your need for a Savior and put your faith and trust right now in the only One Who has
ever given His life to save yours.

    Are you a Christian? If so, where do you get your worldview? Do social media influencers or cable news networks determine how you see the world, or does the never-changing Word of God influence your worldview? If you have put your faith in Christ for salvation, then I am here to tell you that nothing should shape your worldview other than the truth of God’s
Word.
​
What Is a Worldview?
    A worldview is how we perceive and interpret the
world around us. It is the lens by which we understand the
world. Your worldview is probably influenced by many
factors but could be influenced the most by what you
consume the most: media, books, conversations, the
Bible(?), etc. 

How Does a Worldview Work?
If our worldview helps us understand the world around us, then our worldview
influences how we react to certain situations. Take for example a crisis on the news
such as the stock market crashing or another pandemic. If you get your worldview from
cable news, the reporters may try to spin the situation against the political party in the
White House at the time, or the news may try to convince you that the crisis is the end
of the United States and life as you know it. If we get our worldview from our family, we
may see our loved ones hoarding toilet paper and food, and declaring, like Chicken
Little, that the sky is falling!  We wonder if we should be doing the same things. What
should we do; where should we go? We can feel our rising panic. But if we get our
worldview from God’s unchanging Word, we can put this crisis and any crisis in the
proper perspective. 

God’s Word tells us that God is our help, and He will help us though the world
seems to be in chaos: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved
into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble
at its swelling” (Psalm 46:1, ESV). Knowing God’s view on every situation may not “fix”
the situation (pandemics will come and market crashes will happen), but His view sure
does put things into perspective. Knowing He has control of everything and is in charge
of everything helps us to see each situation for what it is: a situation that God will take
care of in His time and in His way and in the way that is best (Phil. 4:19, Matt. 6:26, 1
Pet. 5:7, Matt. 7:11, Is. 41:10, etc.).

How Can I Develop a Biblical Worldview?
In order to develop a biblical worldview, you must read the Bible! As Christians
the Bible should be our constant companion. How will we be able
to interpret the world through the Bible if we don’t know the Bible:
what it says, how it applies to our lives, etc.? If our worldview is
influenced by what we consume the most, we should be
consuming the Bible the most. Jesus Himself said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4). In
Romans 12:2 the apostle Paul tells us that if we don’t want to be like this world, then we
need to be “...transformed by the renewal of your mind…” How will our minds be
transformed? By the washing of our minds by God’s Word. Ephesians 5:26 speaks to
this a little more clearly when it describes that Christ sanctified us the Church by
“...having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…” God’s Word cleanses
our minds; it replaces the worries and anxieties of the world that occupy our thoughts
with the things of God` and helps us to develop the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). 

Conclusion
Over the next few weeks, I would like to talk more about having a biblical
worldview, what that means, and the importance of having one. Today I covered the
basics. I hope you can begin to see why it is so important for us as Christians to take
everything in life and look at it through the lens of the truth of God’s Word because
there, and only there, will we find the answers.