Tag: francis chan

Yesterday’s post was an introduction to today’s topic. If you haven’t read it, click here.

Francis Chan refers his readers of Crazy Love in Chapter 1 to a youtube video called Awe Factor of God when talking about developing a high view of God.

I encourage you to take a few minutes and watch it. When I first watched this video, I must admit that I was unimpressed. After all, I’ve seen these images often enough that they’ve become commonplace. But when I watched again with the purpose of developing a high view of God, I saw them in a different light.

Psalm 8 comes to mind in the form of one of Keith Green’s How Majestic is Your Name from my early days as a Christ-follower.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which Thou have appointed;
What is man that Thou dost take thought of him,
And the son of man that Thou should care for him?

To have a high view of God means that I will acknowledge his majesty, sovereignty and power, his incredible creativity and might. When I look at the universe that God has created, I cannot deny him or his attributes.

When I allow myself to think too familiarly of God, my perspective skews. He becomes commonplace, a friend, a confidante–the angel on my shoulder. My own sense of self-importance inevitably grows. I begin to think that I can “help” God, or that He needs me to accomplish his purposes here on earth.

Who am I? I am but a speck of dust on a tiny planet, orbiting a tiny star – one star among millions.

God does not need my help.
I am a created being, not the Creator.
The planets and stars will continue to spin without my input.

Psalm 104 is an excellent place to begin rethinking my place.

A friend of mine and I recently traded book suggestions and it’s interesting which two books we had recommended. She recommended Francis Chan’s Crazy Love and I recommended Erwin McManus’s The Barbarian Way. We had both been profoundly impacted by these two books and so we recommended them to each other.

It just so happened I had Crazy Love on a bookshelf at home because my husband read it about 18 months ago. So I picked it up, watched the Chapter 1 intro video on youtube.com and the ripple effect began.

Chan asserts in that video that those of us in the church can be so familiar with God that he “becomes common”. He asks, “When you say that name [God] that represents this amazing being, is there an sense of awe in you anymore? This sense of shock that “Wow, that he is this holy, amazing, incredible being…. If your high view of God, doesn’t affect how you think of him, then his name is just another word in the sand.”

So I’ve been pondering my view of God, is it a high view or am I too familiar with him so that I denigrate his majesty, holiness, awesome power and might?

Working on a playlist that will remind me to set a high view of God. Here’s some lyrics from one of my favorites:

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

My heart and my soul, I give You control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise, become my embrace
To love You from the inside out.

Lyrics “From the Inside Out” by Hillsong United (2006)