Enlarging My Soul

This morning I was reading Timmy Brister‘s blog and came across this John Piper quote:

The soul… expands to encompass the magnitude of its treasure. The human soul was made to see and savor the supremacy of Christ. Nothing else is big enough to enlarge the soul as God intended…our lives are intellectually and emotionally disconnected from infinite, soul-staggering grandeur for which we were made. Inside and outside the church western culture is drowning in a sea of triviality, pettiness, banality, and silliness. Television is trivial. Radio is trivial. Conversation is trivial. Education is trivial. Christian books are trivial. Worship styles are trivial. It is inevitable that the human heart, which was made to be staggered with the supremacy of Christ, but instead is drowning in a sea of banal entertainment…The deepest cure is to be intellectually and emotionally staggered by the infinite, everlasting, unchanging supremacy of Christ in all things. This is what it means to know him. Christ has purchased this gift for us at the cost of his life.  

I’m not sure whether I had ever thought about the concept of enlarging my soul.  It reminds me of the story of the Grinch whose heart grew “three sizes that day.”  It is sobering to meditate on this truth: that what we think, do, say, and expose ourselves to has a direct effect on our souls, namely, our capacity to love and delight in Christ.  But then I thought:  how do I enlarge my soul?  So much of standard Christianity is either trivial or “practical” or entertaining or emotional, and I sensed I could learn or be entertained or even emotionally moved without truly having my soul enlarged. 

What, then, truly enlarges the soul?  I got a glimpse of an answer this morning while listening to this hymn:

Before the Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there! The risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless, Righteousness
The Great unchangeable I AM
The King of Glory and of Grace
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God
With Christ my Savior and my God

As I listened and sang and prayed these words to God, I felt it.  My soul centered on Christ, His work and His love for me.  This is what it means to enlarge my soul.

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