(Ephesians 1:11 MSG) It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living,
I recently installed the latest Mac operating system – OS X 10.5.4 aka Leopard. Much of the OS X appeal is in its visually stunning interface and effects. I am speaking of the “wow” factor.
Just as in the Mazda commercials – the “wow” factor. The beauty, speed and power of a fine automobile, wow.
Or a new home, beautiful clothing, an exotic vacation, a fantasy adventure at the movies, trekking through the hills and hollers with thousands of trees providing a surreal canopy transporting you to a world within this world.
Being immersed in the huge flat screen mounted on your wall with 7.1 surround.
Your sports team, your new girlfriend or new guy.
Drugs, alcohol. . .whatever takes you away from the fallenness of this world and gives you even a glimmer of hope.
Whatever scratches the itch that there is more.
Some things inherently wrong, others only wrong because of the illegitimate focus.
HERE IS WHAT I AM LEADING TO.
The only true “wow” factor that does not ultimately finalize in disappointment and tragedy is the glory of God.
Such a seemingly stodgy term that we simply do not understand because we have shellacked it with so many coats of religion and personal preference that it is dimmed and yellowed, made finite and drawn to earth by people ways and thoughts.
And the glory of God can only be seen as God presents it on the canvas of eternity.
All this itching and yearning, legitimate and illegitimate, finds its roots in this craving for something that was taken away from us in the Garden of Eden. We lost it at the very beginning of human history when Adam and Eve sought the “wow” factor in something other than God, when they thought something else could fill that craving for more.
Since Eden we have searched for something to fill the void but we are too far away for anything to last.
(Romans 3:23 BBE) For all have done wrong and are far from the glory of God;
Our ability for ultimate fulfillment, to be wowed without eventual disappointment escaped us in the rebellion in Genesis 3. Since then, as humans, all we can get are glimpses, tastes, hints, guesses as to what might satisfy the soul.
The feel of leather seats and the responsiveness of a turbo-charged engine and a smooth 6-speed transmission, an illicit sexual affair, being transported somewhere by some good marijuana, drinking in the satisfaction of our accomplishments and possessions, a shopping spree, the emotion of a religious experience, being immersed in the latest tech gear. . .
We need to remember what God told the people of Israel to remember – not to forget him and his teaching when life got good (Deuteronomy 8.11ff).
But as the song tells us “only Jesus satisfies the soul.”
Only through Jesus Christ can we be back on track for ultimate fulfillment, only in God can we taste life that does not eventually disappoint.
One day we will be wowed before the throne of God, and we will sing with the angels.
I would describe this meeting with God, but I cannot. We get a few words in Scripture that at best outline the events, but we are incapable of describing what is so far beyond us at this time.
What we can and must do, however, is live with that moment in mind. This is living to the glory of God – nothing replaces the vision of satisfaction and pleasure of being before God and having done some things right in this life that please him. Nothing replaces a walk of faith, trusting in what we cannot see, pointing to that time when we see God.
We can allow nothing that provides the wow factor now to supercede that moment, to cause us to be misdirected in our lives because we are not living and breathing the life of God.
We can enjoy many of the things of this life, but we cannot allow them, or the pursuit of them, to direct our attention and devotion away from God.
I hope I’m listening to this.
By the way, this is why our worship needs to be real and true and before the throne of God.
