DAY 72 - AWE AND WONDER
ZACH ATWOOD, YA EVENTS & OPERATIONS TEAM LEAD
“And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.’” Luke 5:26
awe /ô/noun
a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.
inspire with awe.
When you think of awe, what do you think of? When I think of awe, I weirdly think of surfer bros or the show Rocket Power (that’s a classic Nickelodeon show for all you Gen Z’ers… yes, I’m old). I think of them saying, “Totally awesome, bro!” or “Aweeee yay!!!”
Whether you’re surfing sick waves and your bros call it awesome, or Jesus performs a miracle and all the people baffled, awe is a powerful word.
In this passage (Luke 5:17-26), Jesus is teaching in a house when a group of bros brings their friend to receive healing from his paralysis, but they can’t go through the front door, so they dig a hole in the roof and lower their friend in front of Jesus (classic bro move). Jesus claims that the man’s sins are forgiven and Pharisees are up in arms about His “abuse” of power, so Jesus calls them out for their disbelief in the Son of God and performs the miracle by telling the man to take his mat and walk. As I was reading this, I was hit by the last verse where the others watching this event “… were filled with awe, saying ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.’”
I thought to myself, “In our current state of society (COVID, economic downturn, racial tension and whatever comes next), what would bring people to stop, be filled in awe, and declare that they saw something extraordinary?”
It starts with us. It starts with what we do in this season of life.
I think a lot of people have sat in and accepted a routine of life that isn’t healthy or conducive to their spiritual growth (preaching to myself right now!) I think we’ve become more like the world than we were before this whole thing happened, but if we want to show His awe, His glory and His extraordinary love, we have to fight to be different.
Young Adults, what are you doing in this season that is sharpening your faith? What are you praying for that would showcase his power? What are you doing in this season so when people can look at your life, they declare “We have seen extraordinary things”?
When the world sees the goodness of God in your life, the way that you’re fighting this fight, and see that you’re sold-out for God, they will be in awe of Him.