The Truth that Takes a Lifetime

Today, when talking with a friend, I was reminded by him of the simple truth that God is greater than I am.

What a straightforward truth - one that we (of course) learn in Sunday School, and then can move beyond...right?

Maybe not. This is one of those truths that is so simple, and yet which seems to take a lifetime to learn and live. We probably each have those moments when we catch a glimpse of both God's greatness and our relative smallness (seeing the night sky, and having a small sense of the relative sizes and distances does it for me), and perhaps also those moments of conviction and guilt when we see how we have ordered our life around the illusory belief that we - not God - are the ones of ultimate importance. My comfort, my success, my fulfillment are the things I chase after and concern myself with. All my experiences must be bent towards these end goals.

But what a prison we create for ourselves when we are the only ones we pursue! We were intended to be in relationship with the only One of ultimate worth - God - and yet we would turn from His beauty to frantically try to magnify ourselves? We all do it, we all have done it, but by the grace of God in Christ, we have been raised with Christ in order to live a new life. May God in His grace put to death our sin and suffocating self-idolization, and move our hearts to value and praise and glorify the One who is worthy! And what freedom then, as we trust Him to provide for us by His perfect and never-ending grace, in ways we can never provide for ourselves.

LORD, be glorified. (and we can be confident of the fulfillment of this prayer!)