Increase the Magnification (part 1)

I want to call your attention to a recording by Pastor John P. Kee and the New Life Community Choir. The CD is named Blessed By Association and it has been one of my favorites for many years.

As track #1 (The Greatest) begins, the thought that comes into my mind is this: in this song God is BIG!! I mean, when you hear this song, you don’t hear about Pastor Kee’s problems, his testimony, his beliefs or anything other than, well...GOD! GOD is inescapable in that song; He is all over it! And when you listen to the song, you will realize how wonderful it is to be in a place where GOD is BIG!!

Have you ever been in a worship service where GOD’s presence was so rich and overwhelming that you could literally feel stress, anxiety and concerns melt away? What a place to be where nothing and no one matters as much as GOD—where there is no room for anything else but GOD and the praise and worship of Him!! Moments like those evoke questions like these:

Is GOD “big” in my church or in my home?

Is GOD “big” whenever I minister, serve or work?

Is GOD “big” in my life—is there any room left for His “bigness”?

I think it’s a waste of time to be in a service that is supposed to be about GOD and yet be subject to seeing and hearing anything about everything except GOD! What is the point of sitting in a 2-hour service where GOD left an hour-and-a-half ago?? What’s the point of talking about a GUEST that’s not even invited into the discussion? What’s the practical benefit of inviting Jesus into an atmosphere where He’s only part of the scenery and not the centerpiece??

And what’s the point a living a life apart from knowledge of and communion with GOD? There is no point...and I think it’s that stark, tragic reality that we are seeing played out before us on the screens of our current times. Folly is chosen over wisdom, flesh over spirit, anger over love and fear over faith. And those choices are the natural outcome of the decision to minimize GOD in his scope, his ability and even in His very nature. In this world, GOD is not BIG enough for too many of us!

In this season, when we’re being forced to re-think “church”, I think the best place to start is to put GOD back where He belongs...in the center and exponentially MAGNIFIED! We need to make GOD BIG!!