Are you too big for God?

Hey, friends…
 
Can we talk about your size? And I don’t mean your girth. I mean your stature. Your strength. Your position in life. Your success, status, achievement, or even your potential. Are you too big? Could you (could I) stand to lose some “weight” in your identity and gain some size in God’s identity? Let’s talk (if you’re not already too offended…) in Deeper Thoughts below…
 
But first, a few important happenings:
 
·      Men: We plan to have a men’s breakfast the last Saturday of every month… but we’re cancelling TOMORROW, October 25. Stand by for details about November and December’s events connecting with each other and with God!!
 
·      Teens:  No Youth Group after church BECAUSE...Sunday is TRUNK or TREAT! The One and Only, Stuff-of-Legends, State of the Art Youth Tent will be set up at 3:30 p.m., ready to be customized! Teens - we need YOU!  Come & help create a fun and memorable space for the kids.
 
·      EVERYBODY… C’mon out for a great evening—Trunk or Treat is THIS Sunday, October 26 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.! It’s not too late to decorate a car, hand out candy, greet folks, and be a part of all manner of fun and activities—games, hayride, and more! Sign up in the church foyer on Sunday or email Chris Bowen at [email protected].
 
o   AND… no matter whether you’re involved or not, whether you have kids or not… c’mon out and join the Mt. Hope family to support our kids, meet our neighbors, drink some apple cider, and have a great time!!
 
·      Ladies: Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 15 for our annual “Friendsgiving” event--12:00 – 2:00 p.m. at the church. Join us for food, fellowship, games and fun as we celebrate our many blessings. Turkey and ham are provided; you bring a side dish to share… and bring a friend, too! Click here for more info and to RSVP!
 
o   Also… save the date for December 13 for our Christmas cookie exchange. More details to come!
 
·      Join me for “The Daily Six” – six minutes each morning in the Word of God, Monday through Friday, on our YouTube channel. If you’d like to receive daily email reminders and you’re not already getting them, click here to sign up!
 
OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and you who are certain you’re just the perfect size. BUT…
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts:
 
I’m sure one of you is about ready to pop me in the nose. You never ask about someone’s weight. We’re all very sensitive about that.
 
But I’m not asking about your body. I’m asking about your soul.
 
There’s a lot going on in there—at least I know there is in me. Desires. Ambitions. Dreams. Goals. Needs. These are all the things I am striving towards in my life. And, inevitably, they are also the things I stress over. Desire unfulfilled leads to frustration. Ambition unrealized leads to anger or resentment. Dreams that seem too unrealistic lead to discouragement. Goals that are frustrated lead to manipulation and control. Unmet needs lead to fear.
 
Psychologists talk about ego. We hear that word and quickly visualize arrogance or pride. Someone with a big ego is someone too full of themselves. Or so we think. But the Oxford dictionary has a broader and more accurate definition: “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.” It is the “part of the mind that mediates between our conscious and unconscious,” that helps us define our “sense of personal identity.”
 
We all have an ego, and it is a necessary and God-created element of our lives. Without a sense of self, we cannot navigate our day-to-day decisions. We can’t take responsibility for who we are and what we do. We can’t be “us.”
 
The problem is not our ego. The problem is the composition of it.
 
We think someone with a large ego is arrogant. Perhaps they are. But I believe God is concerned less about the scale of the ego, and more with how large *we* are versus how large *He* is.
 
Here’s what I mean: We would consider someone with a very low self-esteem to have a small ego, correct? But in reality—at least in terms of how God sees things—their ego may in fact be way too huge. When we think poorly of ourselves, we are disagreeing directly and emphatically with the revelation of God’s Word that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” and that God’s works in us “are wonderful” (Psalm 139:14). Our thoughts about ourselves are bigger than God’s. Our sense of self is too large—even though that sense of self is negative.
 
*Our* opinion of a matter being more true, more authoritative, more accurate about our lives than *God’s* opinion—even if our opinion is negative and “lowly”—is making *us* larger than God. Our thoughts become higher than His thoughts, rather than the other way around (see Isaiah 55:8 for the proper sequencing here).
 
For God to be God, we need to become small. In other words, our opinion of reality, of ourselves, of our fears, goals, dreams, etc. needs to become miniscule in comparison to our esteem of God’s opinion and God’s Word.
 
God told Gideon to “go in the strength that you have” and fight against the wicked Midianites who were oppressing Israel (Judges 6:14). What God meant was to go fight in the strength Gideon possessed, but not in the strength that came from Gideon. Do you see the difference?
 
Gideon heard it differently. He thought God told him to figure it out, go be strong, and get ‘er done. So, he immediately went to what made sense to him. He tallied up the men he could talk into joining his army, and he recruited 32,000 soldiers. That's a good, sound military strategy. Well done.
 
But God said, “nope… you have too many men” (Judges 7:2). “Gideon, I need you to be smaller. A lot smaller.” Through a series of exercises, God whittled Gideon’s army down to just 300 men—a ridiculously tiny group to face the tens of thousands of enemy troops just over the hillside.
 
God was going to do a miracle. It would be awesome. You can read all about it in Judges 7:16-25. But God needed Gideon and his men to be *really* small. It’s the only way the supernatural strategy of God’s intervention would work.
 
God needs you and me to be small, too, for Him to do what He is going to do in our lives. He wants to show up. He has very intentional plans for what to do with every one of our circumstances (see Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28). But when our ego—our sense of self—contains too much of us and too little of God, we are going to get in the way. We would never think to do the crazy, irrational, unbelievable things God would do if God was the only one who could pull it off.
 
So… this Sunday, bring your Bibles, and let’s dig into Gideon’s life. Let’s learn how to get really small so God can become really, really big. Gonna be fun… can’t wait! 10:00 a.m. Sunday!!
 
Much love to you all…
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
Friend