What Does it Take to Amaze You?

The idea of “thanking your lucky stars” appears to have originated from the 1599 play by Ben Jonson, Every Man Out of His Humour. The actual line in the play is “I thank my Stars for it.” We use this line today as an expression of relief, usually when we’ve benefited from an unexpected stroke of good fortune or a near miss with disaster. Perhaps we thank our lucky stars because we’ve forgotten who made them?

It’s easy for our days to become uninspired and our souls to become calloused when we live in a world with so many conveniences and safeguards. We expect to not suffer, so when we don’t, it’s a non-event. When we do, we seek relief at almost any cost. Think of the things we take for granted, yet are necessities to our survival. Clean water is a great example.

12% of the world’s population goes to bed every night sick or thirsty from lack of clean water. A family of four in the U.S. consumes an average of 12,000 gallons of water per month. The average family of four in developing countries uses a mere 600 gallons per month. Many walk miles for a bucket of water from a community well. You and I walk a few feet to our kitchen sink. When is the last time you thanked God for your amazing, clean, unlimited water supply? It’s been a while for me. Clean water is pretty amazing. We humans can survive only about three days without it.

What does it take to amaze you and I so much that we break out in praise to our Creator?

In the second chapter of Mark, the Gospel writer shares the story of a paralyzed man who was healed by Jesus. Mark says the man took up his bed and walked out in full view of all the people who were gathered at this particular location. He goes on to say, Jesus’ healing of this man “amazed everyone and they praised God.” Notice that out of their amazement, the people praised God.

What does it take to amaze you?

I remember some time ago when my friends would insist that I see a particular movie because of the amazing special effects. Remember Jaws? Earthquake? The Fly? Raiders of the Lost Ark? Special effects in movies today are greater than ever, yet nobody talks about special effects anymore. Special effects are simply a given – the norm. We expect them, therefore we are no longer amazed by them.

What once amazed you, but no longer does? Is it no longer amazing, or are you just no longer amazed by it?

The challenges of life can often overshadow the amazement of it. The longer we live, the more good things happen in our life. Of course, the same is true of bad things. If we dwell on the less amazing things, our soul can become calloused. Life can wear us down to the point we miss the miraculous because we major in the mundane.

Outside of Eden, life has never been a linear progression of compounded bliss for anyone. Jesus, God in the flesh, knew what it was like to be like us. As a human He experienced disappointments, sorrow, and some unamazing things. But as God, He did some remarkable, amazing things. Ever held an infant in your arms? Recovered from an illness? Seen a sunset? Been in a serious car accident, and walked away from it? Watched a mother bird feed her young? He did all that. Pretty amazing, eh? Did you thank your lucky stars, or did you thank the Creator of the stars?

I love The Living Bible’s paraphrase of Psalm 34:1: “I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of His glories and grace.” Herein lies the antidote for the unamazing life – the key that unlocks the amazing life – praising the Lord no matter what. The amazing life is filled with all the joys and sorrows of the unamazing life. The difference is that the amazing life breaks out in praise to our Father in Heaven as a reply to His amazing actions.

All we need do is look around at the incredible world He has created in order to move from an unamazed existence to an amazing reality. Are you ready to make that move? The choice is yours. Look around you. “Come and see what God has done.” He “has done great things for us.” Don’t thank your lucky stars. Thank the One who created them.

Play to win this week in the game that really counts!