"Amazing!"

(Thanks to my Aunt Phyllis for inspiration on this one.)

"He's an amazing God." My Aunt Phyllis uttered these very true words last night during a phone conversation. They led me to ponder the wonder, as I like to say, or to consider anew and afresh the Bible's declarations of a God beyond our capacity for thought, who nevertheless calls us to use our minds to think of Him.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee" (Isaiah 26:3).

Our minds were made for the primary purpose of thinking about their Maker. We can use them for nothing better, and there is nothing worse we can do to our capacity for thought than to neglect its first privilege and responsibility. "How precious are Thy thoughts unto me, o God... The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts" (Psalm 139:17; 10:4). We walk in either light or darkness to the degree that we direct our minds Heavenward in the consideration of the wonder that is our Lord.

By this, we do not imply merely philosophical or esoteric meditations. On the contrary, thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ involves the most practical usage of our brains and hearts. We "live through Him," that is, the Lord Jesus saturates every moment of our existence in both time and eternity - "to live is Christ" (I John 4:9; Philippians 1:21). Consistent consideration of His person, presence and working as revealed in Scripture therefore serves to enable a walk in "the light of life," as opposed to stumbling along the dark and treacherous path of ignorance and unbelief (John 8:12). A mind "stayed on Thee" is a mind far more prepared to navigate the course of life in all the varieties of its twists, turns, and challenges.

Some ponderings of God, however, do call us beyond merely the necessary and pragmatic. Some leave us with minds almost numbed with wonder. Some overwhelm our hearts with emotions elicited by no other meditation. And some leave us grasping for words to describe the glories that trace their way through our trusting thoughts. "Amazing," or better yet, "Amazing!" is one of those descriptions that come as close as any other to expressing the inexpressible. Indeed, a mind often used to think of its Maker will be a mind filled with wonder, fascination, and the necessary atmosphere of worshipful expectation. Our brains were made for such fulfilling consideration, and nothing begins to compare with directing them toward thoughts of the Amazing.

"Consider Him."

(Hebrews 12:3)