Aslan, You're Bigger

"Aslan" said Lucy, "you're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one" answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not.  But every year you grow, You will find me bigger."
-C. S. Lewis Prince Caspian

I have never read the Narnia books.  I deeply appreciate and enjoy much of Lewis' writing but I've never read his most famous series.  My wife loves them and I will likely read them to Joshua.  But the other night my wife read me that passage.  I knew that passage before she read it to me because it is an oft used excerpt from the Narnia series, but I loved hearing her read it to me again.

Most of you know that Aslan is the God character in the Narnia series.  Lewis brilliantly and simply helps paint a picture of what Christian maturity looks like.  In human physical maturity we grow in size.  My son is much larger than he was just a couple of months ago.  I stayed with a good friend and his son last night and I couldn't help thinking about how that little baby I held in the hospital was now this huge 3 and a half year old. 

Christian maturity is not the same as human physical maturity.  In Christian maturity our view of God is what grows.  The longer one is a Christian the smaller they should feel in comparison to God.  God should appear larger because I am small and God should appear larger because I see Him more like He really is.

"... we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."  1 John 3:2b

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is Spirit."  2 Corinthians 3:18

Friends we grow and mature as Christians by seeing God more as He is.  When we elevate our view of Him we grow.  We grow through humility, not in spite of it.  We grow by magnifying the name of Jesus.  To steal a word picture from Pastor John Piper, we magnify God like a telescope not like a microscope.  Microscopes make small things look bigger; telescopes make giant objects look a little closer to actual size.

In my race toward maturity there are a couple of things helping me.  First, remembering to pray for my daily bread.  Remembering my utter helplessness.  Remembering my need to ask for even a heartbeat.  Remembering that I am but dust and need God for all my most basic needs to be met.  Second, study of and deep meditative thought about the attributes of God.  Thinking deeply and being pushed to think deeper about the supreme holiness of God has magnified my view of Him.  This is one of the things much of modern Christianity has lost and it is so sad.  You and I must regain an fearful awe of God.

Does God look larger to you this year than last? 

Mature in your faith by magnifying God today.