Reformed, Book Reading, Apple Loving, Beverage Snob, 23 Year-Old Husband, In Need of Grace.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
One of the things that really reveals how wicked your heart is, is when you are healthy and well fed and everything is going right, tears dont stream down your face and you don’t worship him for how good He is. But you let something go wrong, you let yourself lose your job, let yourself get sick, let a plane fall out of the sky, let a love one you know die or something bad happen to them and all of a sudden there is this “God betrayed us.” He gets the blame for anything you don’t like, but doesn’t get the praise at all for the billions of common graces He has given you day in and day out… We exist to bring glory to God.
Matt Chandler, “Family Business” Sermon on 8/15/10
A Big View of God pt. 4: God and The Not So Ordinary
When was the last time you were truly amazed by something?
When you saw Inception? The last time you went to the beach? The first time you picked up an iPhone? (I’m slightly nerdy…)
Either way, these things grasp our attention because they are unique, mind-bending, fun and inescapably beautiful. We are drawn to wonder in the things that perplex us and bring us joy.
Now lets look at this a different way…. When was the last time you were amazed by the ordinary things in life? Eating, grass, breathing, going to work, hanging out with your best friend, etc…
Why have these things become so dull?
I believe that by having a big view of who God is we can actually view the mundane things in life as extraordinary and unique. In short, a big view of God impacts how you view the world around you and your day to day life.
Maybe if we had a big picture of God’s power to sustain everything, every morning when we awoke we would be amazed and thankful that we are still breathing and our hearts are still beating.
What if we viewed our jobs as a means of living out our abilities that God has given us, despite our actual enjoyment of the task at hand…. and just maybe what if our joy in our work came from knowing that we were actually gifted with that ability from a massively gracious God, despite if we actually enjoyed it?
What would our lives look like if we were constantly looking at the mundane things in life and viewing them as extraordinary in light of who God is and what He has done for us and around us?
What if the source of joy in our lives was not found in our own personal desires?
Scripture to meditate on…
A Big View of God Pt. 2: Why is it important?
Q: “What is the chief and highest end of man?”
A: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him for ever.”
You may be wondering to yourself what that actually means or why having a big view of God is even important. By the very definition of His nature, if God is to be God then he must be at the center of all things. He must be worshipped. Whether we like it or not, we are all worshippers. We may worship shoes, sex, money, cars, spouses, iPhones or even ourselves, but in the end we all worship something.
Now we must ask ourselves a couple of questions.
What do I worship and why do I worship it?
*Hint* think about where and what you spend your money on and what you spend the most time thinking about*
What is truly worthy of worship?
And while these are all good things that God has given us, can they truly be ULTIMATE things? Money gets spent, sex loses it’s excitement, shoes break, iPhones become outdated, and significant others are just as fallible as ourselves. In short, idols fail.
Despite our idolatry (giving other things the status that only belongs to God) and tendencies to forget who God is, He remains the only thing that is actually deserving of worship. How can worshipping and enjoying God be the chief purpose of our lives if our God is impotent and lackluster? We must have a HUGE view of God if He is truly worthy of worship. If we fail to have a big view of who God is, we can’t truly worship Him.
What about God makes Him worthy of worship in your mind? *post your thoughts*
Scriptures to meditate on:
The first post in this series can be found HERE.
