When I was young, my boy cousins taught me the power of a magnifying glass. First they demonstrated how you could catch leaves on fire by focusing the glass under the sun. When they fried a worm I lost interest.

Yesterday I used my magnifying glass. I had started to put chia seeds in my batch of pancakes. I noticed something odd so put it on the counter and took a picture. I enlarged it and there were ‘bugs’ on something foreign. I got out my magnifying glass to center in on those critters.

A magnifying glass enlarges something so we can see it more clearly. Think of Psalm 34:3 says, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-47 says, “…My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”

Here is the Strong’s definition for esteem: to make great, to enlarge, to magnify, to increase, to make conspicuous, to extol, to show respect.

When we center our focus on the Lord, we magnify Him. The brightness of the Son’s glory shines upon our heart to bring inner transformation. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Yesterday, when I magnified the ‘bugs’ my focus was on them. I could not see anything else. My stomach reacted. However, I took them to the Ag Dept. and they confirmed they were just chia seeds stuck to a piece of plant. NOT bugs. The Lord used them to teach me His lesson on focus.

When we center our focus on Him, the things of this earth will go out of focus. When we focus on our trials and complexities, they get bigger and magnify themselves in our thoughts, words, and actions. Let us magnify the Lord together. Let His deep work of inner transformation be a testimony that will glorify Him.