MAXIMIZING GOD

Recently, my daughter Kelly shared with me an insight she experienced. She was sitting at her computer looking at emails one morning and decided to view another window, so she clicked on the button to minimize the email screen. The email screen, of course, was sent to the bottom of her computer screen in a smaller view with a choice to maximize it later.

Immediately, the thought came to her that this is what a lot of believers do in their spiritual life, including her.  She said, "mom, so many times that's exactly what I do with God.  I click on the minimize button and make Him smaller."

Unfortunately, I can relate to that very clearly.  When life gets complicated and messy, instead of keeping God on full screen, I sometimes minimize God and go about my busyness keeping God as a small icon. I eventually wake up out of my I'm-gonna-figure this-out mode and click the maximize button.

As believers, when we minimize God in our day-to-day living, then we will maximize our problems and complaints - making them seem bigger than what they are.

In Psalms 34:3, the psalmist is calling us to "magnify the Lord and exalt His name."  He is calling us to make a big God look bigger.

What will maximizing God do:

Give us a mindset for victory and not defeat.  When we begin to celebrate God's attributes and character, our magnifying glass is on God and not on our problem.  Confidence explodes. Our focus shifts from the impossible to the possible.

Change our view lens. We start to see a panoramic view of the greatness of our God instead of a view that is only at ground level.

Cause us to be more engaged in our relationship with Him.  We come closer to Him instead of standing at a distance.  We become dependent on God and move away from independence - trying to figure it out on our own.

Cause us to focus on His nature.  His nature is who He is.  He knows everything, has all knowledge, knows no limitations, is present in all places at all times, unchanging, holy, righteous, a loving God who shows mercy and lavishes His grace on us.  This is just a few.

As we walk through our daily life, let's remember to keep God in the maximized view - full screen, and not default to a smaller view. In doing this, our mindset changes, the view of our situation changes, our intimacy with God flourishes and we focus on His marvelous nature.

Memory Verse

Psalm 145:3 MSG "God is magnificent; He can never be praised enough.  There are no boundaries (your name here) to His greatness."