Meditating on the Greatness and Grace of God
This blog is partly an online chronicle of my life, made public for both the edification of others and the invaluable feedback and encouragement I receive from you, my friends. Additionally, I desire The Incarnate to be a place where you can be spurred on toward love for our Lord Jesus Christ and for our fellow man. In light of this goal, I would like to share with you a practice which I have found to be tremendously anchoring and enriching for my spiritual life in Christ. I call it Meditating on the Greatness and Grace of God.
Click "Read the rest" to--you guessed it--read the process I go through to focus my heart and mind on God in order to be transformed by a clearer vision of Him.
Something that has often helped soften my heart during periods of hardening is meditating on the multifaceted greatness and grace of God. I'm convinced that Louie Giglio rightly defines worship when he says that it is "a whole life response to the greatness and grace of God." As Matt Redman writes in a song, "Worship starts with seeing You... Our hearts respond to Your revelation." And they're right. If we are to be transformed into the image of Christ, we must be fixated on Him in all His glory, seeking to see Him with new, pure, and open eyes. I have found this process of contemplation to be the very best way for me to fix my eyes on Christ and to stir up my affections for Him. I pray that you may blessed and stretched through it as well.
Set aside some time when it's quiet, you're alone, and you are free from the pressing demands of your life for just a few moments. Gather your thoughts, clear your mind of them, and then try to picture God. Try to see Him as if through a telescope that sees past our atmosphere, past our galaxy, past the universe, over the gates of heaven to His throne... Try to picture Him holding all of this in the palm of His hand, perhaps on the tip of one finger. Let yourself marvel at this... just marvel.
Then imagine yourself zooming back in--into the "snow globe" of the universe, into our galaxy, onto our earth, onto the town of your residence, and into your very room--as if viewing things from God's perspective. Consider that before all eternity, He was. And that He has made all things... has spoken them into existence by His sovereign word. Marvel at His utter magnitude, and you will see also His glory.
Then consider yourself... a mere human being, one among billions, at one point in time amidst eternity... and how God is mindful of you, a mere human, and furthermore, a sinner! Then consider how this great God actually loves you and desires a relationship with you... with you. And what He went through to make this possible--becoming human, suffering scorn and abuse of every kind, dying, for us... for you... and yet He was innocent of all sin. He became sin on our behalf, paying the debt we owed.
Marvel at His grace... His greatness, your smallness; His holiness, your sinfulness; their collision at the Cross... Marvel at the scandalous grace of the Cross.
"How deep the Father's love for us! How vast beyond all measure. That He would give His only Son, to make a wretch His treasure."
Marvel at our glorious God and Savior, whose greatness and grace infinitely surpass our wildest imagination. Set your gaze upon Him, see Him, marvel at Him, and be transformed into a greater likeness of Him. To the glory and praise of His awesome and holy name.
May His grace abound to you, in you, and through you.
Amen.
__________________
Quote from Stuart Townend, "How Deep the Father's Love for Us." Copyright 1995 Kingsway's Thankyou Music.
Click "Read the rest" to--you guessed it--read the process I go through to focus my heart and mind on God in order to be transformed by a clearer vision of Him.
Something that has often helped soften my heart during periods of hardening is meditating on the multifaceted greatness and grace of God. I'm convinced that Louie Giglio rightly defines worship when he says that it is "a whole life response to the greatness and grace of God." As Matt Redman writes in a song, "Worship starts with seeing You... Our hearts respond to Your revelation." And they're right. If we are to be transformed into the image of Christ, we must be fixated on Him in all His glory, seeking to see Him with new, pure, and open eyes. I have found this process of contemplation to be the very best way for me to fix my eyes on Christ and to stir up my affections for Him. I pray that you may blessed and stretched through it as well.
Set aside some time when it's quiet, you're alone, and you are free from the pressing demands of your life for just a few moments. Gather your thoughts, clear your mind of them, and then try to picture God. Try to see Him as if through a telescope that sees past our atmosphere, past our galaxy, past the universe, over the gates of heaven to His throne... Try to picture Him holding all of this in the palm of His hand, perhaps on the tip of one finger. Let yourself marvel at this... just marvel.
Then imagine yourself zooming back in--into the "snow globe" of the universe, into our galaxy, onto our earth, onto the town of your residence, and into your very room--as if viewing things from God's perspective. Consider that before all eternity, He was. And that He has made all things... has spoken them into existence by His sovereign word. Marvel at His utter magnitude, and you will see also His glory.
Then consider yourself... a mere human being, one among billions, at one point in time amidst eternity... and how God is mindful of you, a mere human, and furthermore, a sinner! Then consider how this great God actually loves you and desires a relationship with you... with you. And what He went through to make this possible--becoming human, suffering scorn and abuse of every kind, dying, for us... for you... and yet He was innocent of all sin. He became sin on our behalf, paying the debt we owed.
Marvel at His grace... His greatness, your smallness; His holiness, your sinfulness; their collision at the Cross... Marvel at the scandalous grace of the Cross.
"How deep the Father's love for us! How vast beyond all measure. That He would give His only Son, to make a wretch His treasure."
Marvel at our glorious God and Savior, whose greatness and grace infinitely surpass our wildest imagination. Set your gaze upon Him, see Him, marvel at Him, and be transformed into a greater likeness of Him. To the glory and praise of His awesome and holy name.
May His grace abound to you, in you, and through you.
Amen.
__________________
Quote from Stuart Townend, "How Deep the Father's Love for Us." Copyright 1995 Kingsway's Thankyou Music.
Hey Matt:
ReplyDeleteLove your blog. We should really talk. I think things are alot different in a big church than you realize. Maybe. You seem to see things as intentional that are more reactionary and even forced upon us. I like your honesty and hunger for the authentic. I really like your vision of God's greatness and grace.
james
Pastor? James... I have long wanted to pick your brain and hear your heart on some things. Guess I should email Lindsay and see if you have an opening sometime in, say, the next year. ;-)
ReplyDeleteRegarding the bigness of Harvest, we've actually decided to get plugged in at Niles, partly because of the smallness, but more so because we feel called to minister in a more urban context, as well as our close friendship with the Bements. We're really excited about the season God has launched us into. He's God, and He's been doing great things in us. We know that He has far more in store than we could ask for or imagine.
Thanks for stopping by the blog. It means a lot... really.
Grace,
Just call lindsay, Im in for lunch for sure, I'd even come to NILES, want to do it with Brian?
ReplyDeletejames