Relish the Sense of Awe that Comes from Feeling Small

As Deanne was browsing through some blogs connected to Alicia Silverstone’s Kind Life website yesterday, she came across punkrockponies.blogspot.com. I love the quote this girl has up on her blog. It says, “I believe there are two types of people in this world: those who live their lives doing everything they can to feel big, and those who relish the sense of awe that comes from feeling small.”

Which person are you? I’ve noticed recently that there are a lot of people trying to make themselves look and feel big (more-so the closer I get to Hollywood). They get really flashy clothes in some extreme style even if they are totally uncomfortable and impractical. They make sure everyone within a block of their fancy and probably too expensive car can hear their music pumping as they roll down the street. They talk only about themselves and the different forms of egomania go on and on. I can’t deny that the times are all too frequent that I want to be the center of attention, times I get distracted from what’s real and lose my security.

But I want to be in that second, “awe that comes from feeling small,” group that realizes the world doesn’t revolve around me and it’s really best that way. Understanding that I am just a small part of one of God’s masterpieces and simultaneously knowing that having Jesus value is way better. My description of Jesus value: according to God (who’s opinion is fact regardless of what anybody says) my life is as valuable as Jesus’s as He demonstrated at the cross where He laid down His life for mine. We’ll return here.

When we’re trying to be big we miss out on the fulfilling identity God has created us for: to be in relationship with Him. When it’s all about me, it’s can’t be about Us (me + God = Us). It’s when we realize that we are nothing on our own but worth more than a universe in Him that our lives start pointing in the direction of our true purpose here.

In Mark 6:7-14, Jesus sends the disciples on a study tour that surely drove this message home. Jesus had the disciples go out to preach a simple message of repentance without hardly anything material, but spiritually they were equipped with limitless power and dressed to the nine’s. Supported only by Himself, God used men to cast out demons, heal sick people and lead many to salvation.

When we make life all about ourselves we try to support our image with stuff. God doesn’t need our stuff because He has more than enough since it’s all His anyway. Back to the cross. Why? Because the point is driven home there more than anywhere else in scripture. It was when Jesus was stripped of everything, even the clothes on His back and nailed to a cross that He made salvation a reality by giving up His life completely.

So in our weakness He is strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) and united to His strong and outstretched arm is where we belong. May we embrace the reality of our smallness so we can experience our purpose as being part of God's salvation bringing masterpiece in uninhibited relationship with Him.

-Nick

P.S. I love the song All I Need Is You by Hillsong. Give it a listen if you want to take some time to reflect on this thought...or if you just want to hear an awesome song.