There’s a new-ish feature on iPhones. It’s called Portrait mode and I wanted to take a moment to thank Apple, and the creators of the Portrait mode for making my photos appear ten times better than they actually are.
In Portrait mode, the lens focuses on a certain object and makes that crystal clear, while blurring everything else in the background. It doesn’t matter what the object is or who the person is, the lens chooses it and everything else appears simply blurred. It’s almost as though those objects and people are there to compliment the main focal point and not be their own entity. In the photo, it appears they are there to serve, not be a spotlight themselves.
What do you think of when you think about God? Author and preacher, A.W. Tozer writes that whatever we think about God is the most important thing about us. Do you think that’s true? What do you think about when you think about God?
What does your mind focus on? What God has done? Or maybe what he hasn’t done?
Where in your life have you been disappointed by God? I know I can’t be the only one who has stormed the throne of Heaven with angered fists demanding to know why he hasn’t healed, fixed or heard my timeline.
But after the angered fists and tears subside, if even for a moment, what are we satisfied with? Are we satisfied with being there in God’s midst, captivated and drawn to the holiness that is his presence, or do we continue to be enamored with the need to know why?
What do we do once we get a small taste of God’s glory?
Do we continue to demand that he act? Do we request that he produces the miracles we read about in his word or that we’ve seen him unleash in other people’s lives? Their lives have that “happily ever after”, why doesn’t ours?
What a holy tension we live in between the cry of our hearts and the surrender of our souls.
Are we drawn to being right or having our way or do we force our minds to remember? Remember what God has done, even if it looked completely different than that we at that moment wanted. God was. God acted. God had a plan all along. This kind of remembrance produces thankfulness. Thankfulness to God becomes the very vehicle that produces hope and endurance for the days ahead.
The truth is we won’t always get what we want. Sometimes God does indeed choose not to act. Not because he doesn’t care. Not because he’s up to some sneaky plan of manipulating you. But because he loves you. Sometimes love is a “no”.
We tell our children no because if they have too much candy, they’ll get sick. We tell ourselves no to crossing the median when driving because we know it will damage other people, putting their lives and our own at risk. These reasons for saying no is obvious. But what if we never get the reason behind God’s no?
How then do we respond?
When you turn on the camera of your life, what does the portrait mode focus on? What gets to be the focus of your lens and what gets to fade into the background?
