Will God or the World Define You?

God's story is the world's true story and as part of that story He wants our hearts and affections directed toward Him. His story is infinite in significance, far reaching and deep in meaning, and more appealing than any individual story or stories that a person can craft on their own. Left to themselves without God, a person's story involves falling away from Him and missing their true purpose. God's story is a story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration starring the greatest hero of all-time, Jesus Christ, and through Him it culminates with the family of God being rescued to live eternally with God in a restored, perfect, sinless world. As Christians we are grateful to be saved from that falling away, and to be living inside His story instead of one separated from Him.
Not that our personal stories (encompassing our hopes, dreams, abilities, and loves) are insignificant to God. He loves us and is out for our good (Rom. 8:28). Our stories are important because He created us to have them, and they play a significant part in God's larger story. But those stories are to be formed by, guided by, and lived out through the identity God intends for us.