The two extreme lenses through which we humans sometimes view ourselves are self-loving and self-loathing. We either think too much or too little of ourselves. We have inflated egos or deflated souls. However, in between the extremes of “I can do everything” and “I can’t do anything” lie the Apostle Paul’s words, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).[1]
A pulsing laser in 1997 re-shaped my cornea and restored clarity to my natural eyesight, but what is the answer for distorted “I-sight”? According to Lucado, it’s worship.
Worship, he says, lifts ones eyes off self and sets them on God. Worship properly positions the worshipper, both humbling the smug and lifting the deflated. Worship adjusts us by lowering the chin of the haughty and straightening the back of the burdened. Worship shifts our gaze to the one who is inherently worthy.[2]
Moreover, worship is certainly not limited to a handful of songs or prayers on a Sunday morning at church. Worship happens anywhere that we lift our eyes beyond ourselves and set our affection and attention on God. It can indeed happen in a worshipping community, but it can just as easily happen in a workspace or on a weekend.
We were made to worship—we are worshippers at our core—and God deserves our worship. As Lucado said, we can “cure any flare-up of commonness by setting our eyes on our uncommon King.”[3]
Summer Reading Program: The Cure for the Common Life Chapter Eight “Applaud God loud and often.”
[1] Max Lucado, The Cure for the Common Life (Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN: 2005): 72.
[2] Ibid., 74-75.
[3] Ibid., 75.