Magnificent Obsession

Steven Curtis Chapman has a song that says:


This is everything I want
This is everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
Everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for You, Jesus
Be my magnificent obsession


The song always struck me because of the ironic juxtaposition of a "magnificent" obsession. Most people think of magnificent as good and obsession as bad. Of course, the irony is that an obsession with Christ is an obsession with all that is holy and good; thereby making it magnificent.

However, there's another part to this. An obsession with Jesus is magnificent because it makes Christ bigger in our life and us smaller. In other words, it literally magnifies our Savior by demonstrating His supremacy. In an individualistic society where we think of even our relationship with God in terms of its personal impact, we forget that an obsession with Christ isn't about us being concerned with the right things. Just as with any real aim in life, its about acknowledging God's rightful position. It's saying "more of you Lord, less of me"; "You must increase that I must decrease." Our single minded concern with Christ isn't about what good it brings me; its about the glory it brings Him.

David Wells said "God rests too inconsequentially upon the Church." Maybe if we were more obsessed with magnifying Him, making Him larger in our life, the impact would be a little more difficult to contain and the consequences for us, and the world, a little more tremendous.