Day 6: Fifty-dollar Words and Fifty-cent Faith

You may not know this, but deep down, I’m a total nerd. I geek out on all things theological, which means it didn’t take me long after undergrad to realize I’d probably really, really like seminary (schools for theology lovers). Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this means I have to be a crusty old dinosaur hidden away in some basement library, away from real people and real-life issues. I like things down here in the real world, so I’m not planning on hiking up an ivory tower to set up shop any time soon!

Anyway, one of my favorite lecture series during my first seminary stint in a master’s program was about having a “high view” of God. The main text our professor taught from was the following passage in Isaiah 6:1–8:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth.

The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

Then I said:

Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said:

Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking:

Who will I send?

Who will go for us?

I said:

Here I am. Send me.

You should have heard the lively discussions we had in class. The gist was this: in our quest to make the Gospel “relevant” to teenagers and unbelievers, we’ve all but lost the kind of awed reverence Isaiah displayed toward God. In our bumper-sticker-theology and God-is-my-copilot kind of culture, we’ve unwittingly minimized just how powerful and perfect and righteous the Alpha and Omega is. In our attempt to make Him more accessible, we sometimes lower our view of Him to nothing more than a buddy or self-help guru. I remember being convicted during that class that I didn’t revere God the way I should. So I committed to be more careful in how I addressed Him in prayer and handled His Word. I’m going to regard my Bible as a precious treasure instead of carelessly shoving it into a suitcase or tossing into the back seat of the car on a road trip. I’m going to give God the awe and respect He deserves! And I still hold to those convictions.

However, as I look back over my walk of faith in the twenty years since then, it’s clear that I sometimes overcorrected, ending up in the opposite ditch. In my sincere attempts to hold a high view of God, I made the mistake of assuming I had to hold a low view of myself. I began to teach Bible studies about “awe deprivation”—about the danger of having an anemic view of God. I also loved to quote the Latin phrase, mysterium tremendum (tremendous mystery), which I gleaned from one of my faith heroes, A. W. Tozer. In God’s tremendous mystery, we should be confronted by God’s greatness and in turn, be brought low. I also began weaving the word depravity into my testimony story, ensuring everyone knew I was saved purely by grace from a sinful pit I’d dug myself, and that I deserved death because of my transgressions.

It all sounded really lofty and academic to me at the time. And the truth is, a lot of that stuff isn’t wrong. Sometimes we do have too casual a view of God. Sometimes we should stand in awe at God’s mysteriousness. And we are saved by grace. But here’s the problem: none of this means we should view ourselves as if God didn’t delight in creating us! I didn’t have the spiritual maturity back then to understand what I know now—namely, that having a truly high view of God doesn’t result in having a low, degrading opinion of ourselves. Instead, having a high view of God opens the believer’s heart and mind to what God says about us, His beloved children. Yes, apart from Him we’re wicked and depraved, but after we put our faith and hope in Jesus Christ, we’re allowed to shrug into His robes of righteousness and are adopted into the family of God as full heirs!

In Christ, our Father doesn’t see us as worthless or dirty or depraved. He sees us as chosen, and righteous, and clean, and loved and a million other very happy things. Look in the mirror, friend. God wanted to save that person you see. He loves that person you see. He died for that person you see. If He has this loving view of you, why should you view yourself any differently?

• Where would you put yourself on a “View of God” scale—with 1 being “I might believe in a higher power” and 10 being “I am so overjoyed by what Christ has done for me that I’m compelled to get on my knees and worship”?
• Where would you put yourself on a “View of Self” scale—with 1 being self-hatred or narcissism and 10 being “I believe all the things God says about me are true!”?
• If you aren’t sure how God feels about you, what Christian in your life could you ask to help you be sure? On the flip side, if you’re a Christian, who in your life needs reminding of how God truly feels about them?