I was reading Psalm 34 recently and came to verse 3:
Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
My mind zoomed in on “magnify.” How are we supposed to make God bigger? I wondered, slightly taken aback. Then I remembered teaching a class on ladybugs to preschoolers last summer. I’d given each child a magnifying glass before realizing they didn’t know how to use one. So I had the kids look through my big magnifier as I moved the glass closer and further away from my hand. My fingers grew and shrunk. The kids gasped with delight. And they immediately realized what I’d forgotten: a magnifier changes how we see something, not the object itself.
Light dawned. I’m supposed to be a lens through which others can see God more clearly.
More light dawned. That’s not easy.
Here’s the rub: If I’m going to magnify the Lord, I need transparent faith. I can’t have sin scratching up the lens, and my ego can’t block the view. For others to see God through me, my life has to be focused on him. And though I sigh to admit it, magnifying God means my devotion has to be bigger than “me and Jesus” time first thing in the morning. I have to love God so fully that even when others don’t know I’m a Christian, they know more about him by knowing me.
That’s a high calling. But soon we will celebrate the birth of Christ, and part of the way others will see the “reason for the season” is through us.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
What will you do so that others can see him more clearly through you this month?
