Thursday, April 7, 2011

Really really small

For years, my dream was to attend a major university, do something important, and become a household name. I didn’t care too much the money; I just wanted the prestige, pride, the popularity. I wanted to make my name in the world. I’ve always wanted to be the best. I’ve dreamed of playing pro football and basketball. I’ve dreamed of starting a church as famous as Lifechurch. I’ve dreamed of becoming as influential and revered as Billy Graham. Have you ever felt the same way? But there’s a problem.

I am really, really small.

Do you know how small I am? Assume I live the average American life span (seventy-five years). And assume that the world is 6,000 years old. You can also assume that the world will end the same year I die. If so, I will have lived .0125% of time. Now that there’s 99.9875% of time that I’ve never lived. Wow. I feel pretty small. But wait a minute. Some people say that the world is much older than 6,000 years. Let’s assume they’re right. So let’s say that the earth is really one million years old. I would’ve lived .00075% of time. That’s a long time! Imagine how long I haven’t lived on earth. I haven’t lived 99.99925%. I’m starting to get that shrinking feeling again. Why?

Because I’m small. Really, really small.

But guess what? You are small too.

God has always been and always will be. He had no beginning; He will never end. But neither will we. Yes, our earthly lives will end. And, looking at the grand scheme of things, our lives will end very soon. But then eternity begins, either in heaven or hell. Our acceptance or rejection of Christ’s gift here on earth will determine our eternal dwelling place. We could spend eternity, always, separated from God, burning in hell, with no relief, no comfort, no solace. Or we could spend eternity in heaven with Him, worshipping Him, seeing Him, spending eternity with Him.

What do you feel like when you think of eternity? Can you imagine a place without time? A city with no sun, moon, or stars, with a King that is our Light? With streets of gold and gates of pearls and precious jewels? A city with every single Christ-follower who ever lived, and also with all the God-followers of the Old Testament? A city where we’ll be more spirits than bodies, where we won’t have physical limitations?

We are small. We’ll live somewhere between .0125% to .00075% of life. Our story is that short. We’re that irrelevant, inconsequential, insignificant. My story is so tiny and puny that it only needs .0125% to .00075% of time to play out. But what about God’s story?

His story is so big, it takes all of eternity to play out.

Wow. Do you feel as small as I do?

Now back when I was younger, whenever I read something like this post and then felt very small, I wasn’t too happy about it. I didn’t like feeling small, insignificant. I wanted to be as big as Billy Graham, remember? I was set on going to the University of Texas. I wanted the whole world to know my name. Naturally, feeling small felt contrary to my being. Maybe you feel the same way. Perhaps you’re thinking, “LoVizzle, stop it. You’re making me feel small!” Well, I’m not trying to. I don’t want to make you feel small. I want you to realize that you are small.

You’re really, really small.

So have you figured out how little time you really have on earth? Have you thought about how important it is to live every moment for Him? Is it lost on you that the God who is eternal, who exists always, came to earth? I mean, what’s a God like Him doing in our block of the neighborhood? We’re small, petty, miniscule. What do we matter to Him?

Everything.

That same eternal God died for us, too. The One who created us came in the form of a man. He had the same physical limitations we do. Can you imagine having the power and being to breathe stars or create a world in six days, and then being stuck in a human body? There's no way it was fun or cool. I cannot fathom I AM, the creator, star-breather, the everlasting, the source of all power, love, and, well, everything, coming to meet us on our planet in our form and bridging the gap between us and Him by sacrificing Himself; all for love. I am too small, too human, too insignificant to really understand the mind-blowing love God has for us.

Now I may be small, but I know what love is. My God? The everlasting? The all-powerful? The self-sacrificing One? The star-breather? My God is love. That’s my God. He is big. He’s really big.

He’s really, really, really big!

And I’m really, really, really small.

After all God has done for me, is doing, will do, how can I reject Him? How can I let anything stand between me and Him? I can’t wait for heaven, where there won’t be any pain, any troubles, anything to worry about. I can’t wait to live on those gold streets, to walk with Christians from every time and every tribe and nation, and to do absolutely nothing but worship, praise, glorify Him with every small fiber of my being for all of eternity.

What about you?

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

You can't hear me right now, but I'm cheering. :)

Sophie said...

Love it! I always, always, always need that reminder! What a challenge to live for our very big Big BIG God because He is glorified even by our really small lives!

Daniel G said...

It’s amazing how much our big, huge, marvelous God loves us even though we are so small and insignificant. Wow thanks for the post.

Ashley said...

Very emotional post. And well written. What you wanted to communicate rang LOUD and CLEAR. praise the Lord! He is awesome in this place and worthy to be praised!