Bigger than Life

Today morning as I was riding to work I saw a minivan (Matatu) in front of our vehicle which was inscribed with the words “Bigger than Life” in big fonts and capitalized.  It got me thinking a lot.   I pondered as to what must have been in the mind of the owner of that vehicle when they chose those words. What did the owner of the vehicle intend to mean when they chose to inscribe those words onto their business vehicle? What message was the owner trying to pass on to the readers?  I then asked myself if I knew what that phrase meant and as much I scratched my head I couldn’t put a finger on it.

Thus I decided to look into it literally before I got hold of google engine and search for the phrase's meaning.  Mentally, I brainstormed as to whether that vehicle was indeed bigger than life. I asked myself if that vehicle would survive if at all it was to be involved in an accident. Would it be bigger than life as to shield the passengers on board? Would it guarantee that those in it were safe no matter what tragedy they faced? Looking closely as I pondered on this question I realized that the phrase would not be applicable literally. However, I was reminded of one who is bigger than life and He is the only one that the phrase would be applicable literally. This man was killed and buried but the grave could not hold him because he rose from the dead.  The man Jesus is indeed bigger than life and nothing else on this earth deserves that phrase.

Later on, I got a chance to look up the phrase in google and embarked on a web research.  As I keyed in the term bigger than life, google search engine brought up “Larger than Life” and Cambridge dictionary defined larger than life as a person that attracts a lot of attention because they are more exciting or interesting than most people. Reading on to other sites, I discovered that larger than life relates to a personality. Some sites even went further as to mention that when someone or something is larger than life, it means that they appear or behave in a way that seems more exaggerated or important than usual. In actual sense it goes to show that one actually fakes the personality, it doesn’t come off natural.

Amazingly, it is possible to have the larger than life personality without having to fake it, if at all one gets to know Him who is indeed bigger than life. In him there is assurance and He in you brings forth a natural feeling of being larger than life.  Hence with Jesus the larger than life personality comes from some place within as opposed to the acquired personality which one has to exaggerate based on external forces.

Are you larger than life?