Becoming What You Behold
I have heard it said,
“you become what you behold.” Let’s think
about it. Maybe from a young age your
Dad drug you along to Major league games at the ballpark. And now, at the faintest smell of popcorn, or
at the the first sound of the organ on Sunday morning, the craving arises. In that moment, all things in life get blurry
and your mind wanders off to the lights, the music, the dogs, the feeling of
being on the edge of your seat at the bottom of the 9th… It runs
deep inside of you. You have beheld the glory of the ballpark and
you have become a lifelong fan. It’s who
you are. You wear the gear. You know the stats and when you talk about
the team you strangely refer to them as “we.”
Or maybe you are like me, and when you were old enough to hold
a fishing pole, your Dad put one in your hand with a 3 pound rainbow trout on the other end of it. And now
when you walk by a cottonwood tree, or
breeze by a water feature downtown, everything in life gets blurry and your
mind begins to swim upstream to thoughts of fish fry’s and early morning
sunrises on a glassy lake, all the ones that fell off your line that are surely
still out there somewhere. You have
beheld the glory of “the catch” and you
have become a fisherman. It’s who you
are. You talk about little things that
spin and spawning cycles; And REI should personally build a monument to you for
keeping them in business.
It is true. We become what we behold. We could take a look at the “beholding”
moments of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, David, Peter, or John; We could look at these moments when they BEHELD the glory of the Lord, and what they
BECAME as a result. We, as worship
leaders, have the most incredible, eternal opportunity every time we gather
together. We get to be a part of God showing
off! We get the great honor of lifting
up the Name above all names and having a front row seat to the fruit of what
happens to folks when they SEE God. We
see lives change! We see people dropping
their preferences, selling their
possessions, loving their spouses,
BECOMING followers of this One that they have beheld. We get to experience in the lives of people what King David put into language in
Psalm 63:
O God, you are my God
earnestly I seek you
my soul thirsts for you
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary
land
where there is no water.
So I have looked upon
you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory
because your steadfast
love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
so I will bless you as
long as I live
in your name I will lift
up my hands.
my soul will be satisfied
as with fat and rich food
and my mouth will praise
you with joyful lips
And that should be our
vision, shouldn’t it? Not folks being ok with our song choices and
arrangements. Not a successful attempt
on getting our congregation’s posture to change. Not hitting a home run in crafting a set to
correspond with the message. Not having
musical outlets for our church members. All
those things can be good, but they are not our goal. We want people to BEHOLD the Son of God in a
way that they BECOME like him.
What an honor it is to lead
people in worship! And the best way you
can do that is to, right now, “in all of
your ways, acknowledge Him.” “Offer your life, right now, as a living sacrifice
to God.” Take a moment to ask the Father
to show you the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ through His Word and
by His Spirit for His glory. Beloved, may
our praise rise from that place of beholding His beauty. And we will say “because Your steadfast love
is better than life, my lips will praise You!”