SCRIPTURE: For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV
QUOTE: “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” C.S. Lewis
THOUGHT: Our relationship with the Triune God is a lot about perspective, don’t you think? The smaller our imagination for the unseen holy, the larger we appear in our own story. But one day, the curtain is drawn back and we suddenly see that our own story, in which we were such a star, is just a few words in a subtitle, rolling across a screen, only to disappear as we try in vain to freeze the frame with our name in it. Vanity and striving after the wind, says the wise Solomon, as we flail.
God’s story is so much bigger than us. Even his foolishness is wiser than ours, and his weakness stronger says Paul. Singer-songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman put it like this: God is God and I am not / I can only see a part of the picture He’s painting.
I like the C.S. Lewis quote. Christians with perspective large enough to include eternity have a reason to make life count, a desire to make a difference in the hearts and minds of others, a reason to love beyond reason and a capacity for hope beyond our capacity. But those whose perspective is limited only to this world, who “have largely ceased to think of the other world” says Lewis, eventually become ineffective in living and loving and hoping and doing things that lead to human flourishing.
In the end, it is proper perspective that brings us to the point of faith, over and over again. As we realize our smallness, our insignificance, our weakness, our foolishness, we surrender, and become something more as God shares his incredible wealth with us.
PRAYER: Oh God, you are God and I am not. I can only see a part of the picture you’re painting. But increase my imagination for you, and for heaven, and my capacity for hope and love. Bless me with proper perspective and the wisdom to walk out what you are saying.
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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