The Willem

Higher Perspectives

// February 23rd, 2008 // Life

Continuing on the stepping out and up theme, I must touch on a book I’ve been reading of late. God’s-Eye View, by Tommy Tenney, has changed the way I approach every single day, and for that I am eternally grateful. The premise is a simple one but one I’d never really had slapped into me, or had the presence of mind to stumble across on my own: through genuine worship (a lifestyle of worshiping Him, not simply the few songs at each service) we gain a higher perspective, a God’s-eye view instead of a man’s-eye view.

This serves several purposes for us, and I believe each of them is worthwhile and good. Firstly, it gives us the opportunity to magnify Him. This principle works the same way as a magnifying glass. While it doesn’t actually make something larger, (For we cannot make Him larger than He already is, for His magnitude is both far beyond our scope of comprehension and limitless.) a magnifying glass gives the beholder a larger, clearer, fuller view of that which is magnified. Do you ever forget how truly gargantuan and awesome our God is? Need a reminder? Magnify Him. I guarantee you’ll find He is greater and more powerful than anything that would ever try to bring you down.

This brings me to the next purpose. When we ascend to a higher perspective through worshiping Him, we gain the ability to minimize the attacks of the enemy. Picture the enemy at ground level, as he cannot ascend any higher than that (Thank you God Almighty for that) . Now picture yourself in a hot air balloon. The more praise you give your Sovereign Lord, the more passionately your fire burns, the higher your position and perspective will rise. At ground level, Satan and his army of demons, along with all the troubles and problems and speed bumps on the road of life are all around you. With a man’s-eye view, one could quickly and easily become overwhelmed, swamped in sin and buried under the devil’s army. With a God’s-eye view, however, the devil and his minions look like ants, mountains look like mole-hills, and giants look like grasshoppers. My favorite illustration of Tenney’s for this point deals with the negative reports brought back to Moses and Israel concerning what the spies found in the land of Canaa. Ten of the spies reported such negative images as the descendants of Anak (giants) making them look like grasshoppers. Consider an average man at 6′ tall, while a grasshopper would average 1″……quick math gives you 432 foot tall giants. Sound like a man’s-eye view to you? If only these men had taken Caleb’s lead in pursuing a God’s-eye view, they would quickly realize that nothing is beyond God’s abilities.

Through passionately praising Him in everything we do and everywhere we go, we not only learn what He wants us to do, we will find that, unbeknown to us, we are actually living out His will. Through praising and worshiping Him, we begin to desire a closeness with Him that we may or may not realize is already coming into our possession. It’s like a father and a young son. Picture a young boy running around, playing whatever game he wishes. When his daddy comes home from work, this daddy wants nothing from the son but love. Love in unlimited quantities, of unimaginable quality. Love flowing freely and flowing unendingly. Daddy’s capacity to receive love from his little boy far outweighs the amount of love, adoration, praise (worship?) the son can or will ever give. Such is our Father’s capacity to receive our praises. It is limitless, and He is in a constant deficit in this department because we lavish Him so rarely and so half-heartedly. By passionately seeking to fill up his love bank account, we cannot help but to live out something higher, something closer to His true will for our lives. We cannot help but to pour out a little of that true love to people and places around us. We cannot help but to splash a little extra where we weren’t expecting to have an effect. This is His will working in us. Through seeking to praise Him and worship Him, we become a flashlight trying to focus on a specific target, but continually shedding errant light elsewhere; light that helps those who need it, but who were unaware.

My final premise of the book centers around the “passion police” that has become modern society. We’re constantly trying to guard against embarrassment, public displays of adoration (PDA) of our God, and unbridled, passionate worship of Him. Much like Tenney, I desire to make a fool of myself for my Lord and Savior. I don’t want to be mired in the trenches of dreary worship, following the typical pattern of putting my hands up only when other people do, only praying at designated times, only rejoicing in His glory and His majesty at “appropriate” or previously-designated periods throughout the week. I don’t want to have church only in church. I want to be church. I want to live church. I want to be the bride Jesus wanted me to be, and the part that I’m focusing on right now is being that church passionately. Would you be astonished to see a long-married couple holding hands in public, possibly hugging, kissing, or even staring deeply into each others’ eyes with the look that only shows itself in love? If we are not put-off or disgusted by that, or even uncomfortable, then why should we discourage passionate pursuit of Christ in any situation by his bride of over 2000 years? My parents were married some 17 years before my mom passed away, and not a day went by that didn’t hold some display of their love for each other. Every single moment they were together, I could tell that they wanted to be with the other person forever; they never shied away from PDA: the occasional public kiss, hug, hand-holding, or affectionate tickle or prod was always a part of life for them. Why should my marriage with Christ be any less than that? If anything, I should be more outspoken about my love for Him than even that. I want that confidence and that desire to make a fool of myself for Christ (as long as it’s actually pleasing to Him and beneficial to His Kingdom, of course). I desire that freedom.