(Picture of Yosemite from our trip in 2022)
I read a Popular Mechanic’s article today on a practice that can make your life feel “bigger.” I know that someone is thinking, “ Why is he reading Popular Mechanics?” And that’s a fair question. The answer is because of my Apple subscription. I have access to all kinds of magazines and newspapers, and it allows me to scroll through and read through a variety of publications daily. But, back to the practice that makes life feel “bigger.”
The practice is the practice of “awe.” The article referenced a research study published by Berkeley that sought to quantify and understand awe and its impact on people. The research paper states, “that two appraisals are central and are present in all clear cases of awe: perceived vastness, and a need for accommodation, defined as an inability to assimilate an experience into current mental structures.”
This means that awe occurs when you see and experience something that is bigger than yourself and requires you to adjust to fit what you now know and understand. The Popular Mechanics article points out that people who experience awe have less worry, an increase in good feelings, and ultimately develop a smaller sense of self.
The article says that you can experience awe in many different ways, but where the article falls short is in what it misses. The reason that awe is so good for us is because God designed us to be our best in relationship to Him. And when we are in relationship with Him, we experience true awe.
When we see God for who He is, we see ourselves rightly and others the way that God intends. It’s not surprising to Christianity that research reveals that a smaller sense of self is good for us. The problems in the world began in the garden when man sought to be as big as God. And the solution, or antidote, to pride is humility. Humility is demonstrated in Jesus and cultivated through awe of God.
The great theologians of the 90s, Audio Adrenaline, were right when they said:
I could be anything I wanted to. I could do anything, but one thing’s true: Never gonna be as big as Jesus.”
No matter how small we feel in light of the mountains, the sea, or even the accomplishments of others, we will never find our right place in the world until we see ourselves in relation to God.
The best thing you can do today is to pursue smallness by making a big deal about God. As John the Baptist said in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
More scripture:
“Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!” Psalm 33:8
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” Hebrews 12:28–29
“God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.”Job 37:5