Cinderella in the Bible

By Teri Dawn Smith

At a conference not long ago, the keynote speaker made this bold statement: “The seed of every story is found in the Bible.”

Hmm. I decided to test it out. I suppose the typical story of the hero saves the heroine from the evil man isn’t hard to find. Try David and Abigail in I Samuel 25.  Or for a twist, there’s even the damsel saving the hero in chapter 19 of the same book. Who could forget the story of the underdog wins when David slays the giant? Obviously David lived a colorful and adventurous life.

But what about the story of Cinderella? I decided to look for the ugly stepsisters, the lovely young lady, and the Prince. It’s really a “rags to riches” story, and I found it in an unusual place in the book of Ephesians, chapter two.

Chapter two describes the “rags” as dead in trespasses and sin, indulging the desires of the flesh and mind, and living as children of wrath. Pretty tattered rags there! 

And then the riches appear in phrases such as “brought near”, “reconciled”, and “fellow citizens with the saints”.

The Prince also makes His appearance. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, comes that “He might show the surpassing riches of His grace.”

Now, every good story needs a twist, and God has one in His story. We’d like to identify with the beautiful Cinderella and welcome our Prince. But sadly, our sins made us like the ugly stepsisters! But the twist in God’s story is that He takes those living in the rags of sin and brings them into His family. He transforms the ugly stepsister into the princess!

As a writer, my favorite description of God’s transformation is, “we are His workmanship”. Look up that Greek word for “workmanship”, and you’ll find it’s from the Greek word for our English word “poem”. We are God’s poem to this world! May God help us to live so that when our family and friends observe us, they see God’s poem.

Can you think of other famous stories that have their seed in the Bible? Where would you find them?