Don’t Take a Picture. Get Up Close and Personal.
“And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’” Revelation 4:8
The dome of the Grand Canyon National Park robbed my breath. My eyes roamed, incapable of absorbing everything at once. Sure, I had seen photos of the national park before, but I had no context for this—the enormity, the majesty, it was too much to take in.
“How can I possibly walk away?” That was my thought heading into the gift shop, where I discovered a massive panoramic of the scene. My heart swelled, handing the cashier some crumpled bills, proudly exchanging them for a crisp rolled poster.
Every day I glimpsed the poster, I realized that image was overtaking the one in my memory. The grandeur of the moment slipped silently, like sand in my palm.
Some experiences are so mind-altering they cannot be contained in a still life. The immensity of skyscrapers looming overhead, the vastness of a sky full of stars. Some moments must be continually experienced to be confidently relived.
Revelation 4:8 pictures the four living creatures, covered with eyes to see God’s glory. They have full awareness, a complete view of God. “And day and night, they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.”
I didn’t have enough eyes for a perfect view of the Grand Canyon. Staring at that poster can’t bring me to the present moment at the South Rim. I can still believe that it is enormous and gorgeous, but I cannot relive the feeling of being “up close and personal,” because I’m simply not.
In God’s goodness, He gives us access to his glory, daily—through his living Word, through the miracles He is still performing around us, and through open lines of communication and relationship. God never wanted us to experience Him once and come away with a photo souvenir. He wants us up close and personal, standing in full confidence that He is always moving.
How do we personally experience God in a way that radically transforms our faith?
We share testimonies of His power at work in our lives.
We pray together and not just for each other.
We remember He isn’t a topic of conversation; He IS the conversation.
When we center our world around personal encounters with His grace, we begin to see His holiness everywhere—restoring relationships, breaking chains and addictions, healing illnesses and bring life to dead situations.
Having an “up close and personal” faith is the difference between, “God I believe you can do it,” and “God, I see you doing it.”
Friends don’t let friends stare at a poster when they could be standing in the moment. The basis of a personal faith is a personal commitment to repeatedly share it and live it, together.
