Breathtaking
“After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.”
Matthew 17:1-2
“I want to restore your awe of Me.”
In the quiet of a personal retreat, the Holy Spirit spoke this simple sentence to my heart. In an instant, I felt humbled, broken and sad. I knew what God was saying to me. I had left my first love.
My christian walk had descended into the busy distraction of activity. “So much to do. Have to keep moving. Can’t let up,” I would tell myself.
In my myopic focus on me, I was losing God’s great offering to us all: a life lived in the presence of the Awesome Creator and Sustainer of all things. I felt very, very small.
How do we get to such dry places? How do we lose our grip on what is important. How do we trade God Himself for a bowl of porridge, like Esau did? We get there because we lose that sense of awe and wonder of God.
In our Scripture verse today, Jesus took His three closest disciples, Peter, James and John, on a journey to show them a deeper revelation of His greatness and glory. They would need this revelation in the tough days ahead. In an instant, the Father pulled back the veil over their fleshly eyes, and they saw the Son of God for Who He really is: the Radiant, Glory-Filled, Overcoming Savior! Oh to have been there and to have seen what they saw!
The only word that comes to mind is, “BREATHTAKING.” Sometimes we encounter moments and situations that steal our breath. Suddenly we are in the presence of the Divine, and all time stops. Our hearts beat faster. All else falls away, and we are left stunned by the beauty and brilliance of God Himself.
Peter, in his eager, impulsive way, wanted to build three tabernacles for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, whom they had seen. But that was not the purpose of the encounter. The purpose of the encounter was AWE. Jesus wanted to show them His glory, so they would have an inner vision of His awesome greatness.
This is what I pray for you and me today. That “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Eph. 1:17. I believe Paul could pray this because the Radiant, Breathtaking Jesus had come to Him in glory on the road to Damascus. Paul was changed forever. Once we have seen His radiant glory, we are never. . . ever . . . the same.
I encourage you to think about your life focus for a moment today. Is your goal to know and be with God Himself, or some lesser aim? Is God’s presence your top priority, or an agenda of your own making? I read this simple quote last week, “The greater your inner vision of God, the greater you become.”
In other words, as God, the Breathtaking Being of History, grows in your vision, you increase to become more like Him. Your inner world expands and you become more than you have ever been. This is what Paul describes as going from “glory to glory.” I Cor. 3:16-17.
May the Breathtaking God of Creation reveal more of Himself to you today. May the activity and cares of this life fall away so you can see Him more clearly. May His brilliance be your joy and victory today. He is the Great I Am. He is the Author and Finisher of our Faith. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Let’s worship Him today. Let Him take your breath away!