When I was on tour in Europe we drove through the Swiss Alps. I’ve never felt so small in my life! In Australia the mountains are more like hills, so naturally this gorgeous sight was overwhelmingly belittling. Being so small though I realised just how big our mountains can appear in our lives: the mountain of inadequacy, the mountain of fear. Or the mountain of pride, the mountain of striving. It highlights the way we view mountains are then all about our perspective. From the bottom, it appears frightening and daunting to even conceive climbing! How quickly I became aware of this sitting in the bus, traveling through the mountain’s tunnels!!! I gained an incredibly different perspective than the one when I had when flying over the top on our way there: the snow capped mountain tops of beauty versus the cavernous dark, gloomy covered in clouds base. Somehow when flying the view seemed far more glorious. Worship is much the same. What we choose to fix our eyes upon is magnified. When we let God be huge in our life, the mountains are viewed from a place of overcoming in Him, they are made small and then beauty is found in it because of His greatness.
We are created to worship; therefore we will always worship something. The mountain of hopelessness in front of us, or the mountain of grace? The choice is left up to us. What we choose to bring into largeness stays large – the rest is peripheral. It’s such a challenge though isn’t it? You know, easy to say – hard to actually do. It’s easy to say “just surrender to Him” but letting go of your grip can be excruciating! Eyes on me, or eyes on Him – what’s the choice going to be – who or what will we worship.
When we gather with our teams to prepare for our services, it’s an opportunity to reset our own hearts, to realign our gaze toward God together. Don’t wait until Sunday to take your eyes off that which is insurmountable in front of you to refocus – we all have something in our forefront that isn’t Jesus. It’s a chance in our life off the platform to make sure we are right before God so as we lead, we seek Him first and only; Not our gift mix, nor our crap week, nor the argument we had on the way to church, nor the fact we got no sleep because our toddler was up all night, or the service schedule. Not the set list, nor that awesome guitar lick you like to play or spontaneous vocal lead you want to break out into. None of that actually matters if our focus is not fixed on Him alone.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
God so desperately wants for us to see He is good, He is greater than what lies ahead of us. He is bigger than our current challenge. He is sustainable in our wasteful ways. He is brimming with grace to overflow into your mar. He want our lives to honour Him, on and off the platform. He desires your heart to be like Christ, however to do so means taking the focus off ourselves and realigning it on Him – as hard as that is some days. We are called to make God large in our lives daily by declaring His greatness and worshiping Him, and Him alone!
The words of this beautiful older song puts it this way:
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and grace.”
When we give glory to His name we reorient what needs magnification in our lives. What are you amplifying currently and how can you adjust your focus toward Him this week?
May you be blessed as you prep for Sunday – let it be your overflow. x