Don't Reduce God

I heard a guy on the radio say that OU and USC uniforms are “universally known across the country.” Then he listed something else and said that was “universally known across the country.” Now, I’ve messed up plenty of sentences in radio work myself, and I’m confident that I’ve inadvertently made some boneheaded phrase faux pas in my sermons. This comment, though, “universally known across the country” hit me funny. The universe became the United States! I realized that we reduce our God to something smaller than what he is. In fact, we do that a lot.

1. He can save the world, but my sins are too many to forgive.
2. He can cause nations to rise and fall, but he can’t rescue me from my distress.
3. He can give “life abundant” and he can “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…,” but he can’t use me for very much in the kingdom.
4. He can raise the dead, but he can’t revitalize my marriage.
5. He can be the Father of the faithful, but he can’t offer anything to help me bring up my children.

You get the point, don’t you? God is bigger than you. God is bigger than your abilities. God is bigger than your trouble. God is bigger than your sin. God is bigger than the United States. God is bigger than the universe. No one – nothing – is bigger than God. Yet, he cares for you. That’s Life at Work.