"When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25 ESV)

A few guys and myself were talking about the Bible yesterday, and we somehow got to the topic of why there are four gospel accounts in the Bible and not just one. One of the guys said that it's because everyone has a different story that Jesus writes in their lives and hence a different vantage point to speak of Him from. He concluded that this is why we cannot give people enough advice to solve all their problems because often, God uses a mix of wisdom from people, the Bible and our circumstances to bring us to Him.

I agree, and I believe that one of the best ways of counseling people is to tell them how Jesus has worked in similar struggles of my own, because it doesn't guarantee a formulaic solution but instead points to Jesus, who he is, and what He does. It's no ten-step plan, but it provides a relational hope that no book can substitute for.

So the question isn't why there are four accounts for one story... for they are all different stories, just with the same main character. And somehow they all come together into an even bigger story. I suppose there couldn't possibly be enough books for how much Jesus has done.