Wide Angle

A few months ago I bought a wide-angle lens for my camera. A wide angle lens has the ability of bringing in a wider angle of light to the camera. It makes my pictures able to contain more of what is really there than I can get without it. To illustrate, if I was taking a picture of the tree below without a wide angle lens, I would only be able to get 1/5 or even 1/6 of the image below.

I ought to note that these images are not only wide-angle, but also panoramic, which means that they are many images "stitched" together. I take several pictures and then put them into a computer program that "sews" them together, making almost a picture "quilt" where all of the images line up perfectly. The picture above was probably about 5 images stitched together, and the one below was probably between 15 and 20.

The reason I got the wide-angle lens was so that I could photograph more of God's creation. So many times when I am photographing something, especially in nature, the scope of beauty is much greater than my normal lens can capture in one picture. With a wide-angle and/or panoramic method, I am able to increase the scope of beauty I can contain in one picture. The picture below is a perfect example. It is one of my favorites right now, and it would have been totally impossible without a wide-angle lens and panoramic technology.

The concept of a wide-angle lens illustrates a spiritual truth, I think. Like panoramas and wide-angle images, the goal is to make visible more beauty than is naturally visible.

The concept applies to a Christian's endeavor to know God. God is infinite, and "surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19). However, that should not deter Christians from seeking to know more of Him. Just because we will never know Him fully doesn't mean we will never know Him more. We need to expand, or widen our knowledge of God in order to see more of His majestic beauty.

How do you do that? One major necessity is time. For Christians, simple time will result in a greater knowledge of God. Experiencing life with God will inevitably lead to a greater knowledge of Him. But perhaps the most significant, joyful, and exciting way to widen our knowledge of God is to study Him in His Word. "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:7-8). There is nothing in the world that could be more important than knowing Christ. In fact, if you compare anything with the worth of knowing Him, they fade into mere garbage!

We need to learn to expand our spiritual "lenses" with a wider angle, that we me see and know more of our unfathomable God. It is so worth the effort!