I was recently confronted by a question as I mused on some thoughts surrounding the subject of my influence. What do I magnify?
When I consider what is important to me, I immediately submit essentials such as God, the Gospel and the Body of Christ – the Church. Any follower of Jesus Christ will quickly affirm these as subjects of ultimate importance. After all, they are the core topics about which the Christian Bible is written.
But, what is truly important to me? What do I make much of? When I become the subject of a conversation by others, what is it that people say I am all about? Sure, it is easy for me to quickly pledge allegiance to the central truths of the Christian faith. But, is my allegiance obvious to others when they observe my life? I find that I do not always make a big deal about the same things about which the Bible makes a big deal.
The health of the Body of Christ is dependent upon believers emphasizing the big deals of Scripture. The Bible calls the Church to unite around the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the express image of God. The whole Godhead is pleased to live in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Head of the Body. His Name will be exalted above every name. And it pleased the Father to crush Jesus in our place. Jesus represents all that God is; therefore, He represents the big deals of Scripture. Unfortunately, I throughout my life, like many other, have fallen victim to the influence of spiritual leaders who make a big deal about things of little or no importance. They build their life and teaching around things that are insignificant or even irrelevant to the Name of Christ. They die on hills that are far from the battle and take down their own comrades in the process. Ultimately, the legacy of their life is that which takes away from the Name of Jesus rather than magnifying it. This will cause damage to the Body of Christ.
So, I ask myself again, “What do I magnify?” I now find myself in a sphere of influence over people who are looking to me for guidance. What are they gleaning? The psalmist encourages me by saying, “O Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exult His name together.” The parallelism here leads me to believe that magnification is tied closely to exultation. It must be my goal in all I do and say to lift up specifically and clearly the character and works of the Lord.
This is possible only through a complete submission to the Word of God. I must first acknowledge that I am prone to wander and naturally desire for my name to be exulted rather than the name of Jesus. So, humility must be my constant state of being. I must saturate my mind and affections with the whole Word of God so that God’s thoughts and affections become mine. And finally, I must plead with the Spirit of God to lead me and teach me daily so that I become a living channel of worship to God.
So, what do I magnify? My prayer and plea is that it is the Lord. “O God, kill me, that is my flesh, and make me a boisterous instrument used to proclaim those things which are your big deals.”
this is “grace at work”
Thank you for the poignant reminder that people continually watch to see if the testimony of what my life says is that same testimony of who Jesus Christ is.
Richard D Blaha
March 8th, 2010
The following might detect each individual believer’s view of this truth in how they respond to the following.
Mistaken Identity…
The light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.
As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.
He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.
After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, ”I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday-School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally…. I assumed you had stolen the car.”
Richard D Blaha
March 9th, 2010