Zoom Out
Technology today is amazing (and more than a little addictive). My cell phone now not only gives me access to human-to-human dialog, but also opens the floodgate for the latest news, stock quotes, sports stories, scores & stats, Facebook friend connections, and one of my buddy Nathan’s most favorite inventions: maps (he has issues you should ask him about sometime). Driving maps, satellite maps, weather maps. Maps that show direction, time zones, topography, even impending weather.
One of the greatest features of these online map applications is a little function called “zoom.” With the click of a button, I can move my view from the perspective of a geosynchronous satellite hovering 1,200 miles above the earth’s surface, right down to Google’s street view, nearly making out the details of each brick on my house (try it - it’s kinda creepy, and the subject of a few pending lawsuits).
Zoom is an amazing feature for maps because it gives us access to something incredibly important: perspective. If I pull up an address for a place I want to drive, zoomimg out allows me to back up and see that location in perspective to other landmarks I may be more familiar with. An approaching thunderstorm may not show up on an initial up-close glance at a weather map, but zooming out gives me perspective on the overall direction and timing of the storm front. Not too long ago it took a room full of computers to make this possible. Today I can see it on the 3 inch screen of my 11 ounce cell phone (perhaps my amazement at this possibility shows my age?).
Lately I’ve been feeling my picture of God needs a “zoom out.” We all have a way of painting God through the restricted lens of our own personal perspectives and experiences. It’s natural. But sometimes we need to intentionally step back and see Him for who He really is and not just what our cultural norms have dictated. Sometimes I feel I’ve only been staring at a piece of God instead of pulling back and attempting to catch a glimpse of the breadth and width of His incomprehensible makeup and character.
Maybe it’s circumstances. A friend gets cancer, you lose a job, or the dream you thought was coming into fruition suddenly dies, and you begin to define God and your existence by that one painful moment. It’s time to zoom out. God is much bigger than our circumstances.
Maybe it’s politics. You were raised in an affluent, white, middle-class suburban neighborhood or your dad was a member of the Teamster’s union, and you begin to define God and morality by whatever side of the political aisle you align with most. It’s time to zoom out. God is much bigger than a political ideology.
Maybe it’s religion. You were taught that behavior is more important than relationship, that piety equates to righteousness, and you began to define God as a set of rules to be followed rather than a relationship to be cultivated. It’s time to zoom out. God is much bigger than the shackles of religion.
Our understanding of God is so small, but in reality His vastness will never be uncovered by our fallen, human minds. What are you allowing to limit your God-perspective? I'll let you in on a little secret: the closer you get to Him the bigger your view of Him actually becomes. To pull your perspective out, you really need to press in. It may be time to find that zoom button. |
