For the law appoints as
high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after
the law, appoints the Son who
has been perfected forever.
~Hebrews
7:28
I recently had the opportunity to visit a Mayan ruin in
Belize--Lamanai. Like many ruins, it was once used in Mayan society as a place
of sacrifice, worship, government and trade. A tall structure, it is used by
tourists now to climb to the top and see over the treeline God’s great
Creation. To say the least, it is a feat to be conquered and not for the slight
of heart or fearful of heights. I, in my haste, decided to take on the
challenge. As I began to climb, the stupidity of the exercise began to enter my
brain. With nothing to secure a climber (holster, rigs, etc.), I was beginning
to second guess my decision to climb as my fear of falling kicked in not far into my adventure. I made a decision
twice (around step #10 of the incline steps), in fact, to stop the whole
charade of bravery and adventure and abandon ship for safer, solid ground. Each
time, a fellow-climber would skip by me (seemingly effortless climbers) with
words of encouragement. And so I pressed on—speaking the words of Phil 4:13 to
myself as I went…muttering “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens
me” as I purposefully made my way up the narrow stairway. And as the end of the
rope you can hold going up came to an end and the “real climbers” could take
the last 10 steps up to the very top, I had hit my limit.
 |
| Looking up at the folks on top. |
I stood on the plateau, shaking like a leaf feeling
completely victorious even though I had fallen short of the ultimate plateau. I
looked up at those above me who had achieved their ultimate goal of making it
to the top and smiled to myself as I had achieved my ultimate goal of pressing
passed my fears to the place where God would allow me to go (somewhere around
step #50ish). I knew that I could go no further. Safety would not allow that—shaking
uncontrollably while trying to climb with nothing to hold on to is not
advisable for anyone.
You see, I had strived to accomplish the best that I could
be. I had strived for perfecting this adventure. And what I learned when I got
to my top was that my point of
perfection is not the same as another person’s point, my accomplishment is not
the same as another person’s accomplishment, my goal was not the same as other
people’s goal. And, while my fellow climbers seemed to want to console me in my
inability to make it all the way to
the top, I could only smile the biggest smile ever because I was celebrating my
ability to do even more than I thought I could do. And the same thing goes for
the other areas of our life. Our ultimate goal is common—we all want to reach
the perfection of being like Christ. But along the way, what we will come to
learn is that we are human. And, as Hebrews 7:28 says, we are a priesthood full
of weaknesses. We have been chosen indeed. 1 Peter 2:9 says we are a “chosen
generation, a royal priesthood” but that does not ever make us all the same.
What’s more it does not equate us with Christ. There is always One (Christ) who
sets the bar higher than we will be able to reach but a bar we should strive to
meet nonetheless. And as we climb towards that bar, push through our comfort
zone (step #10) and hurdle over our fears, we will feel assurance and
excitement in making it to our own levels of accomplishment.
Today, your challenge is to make sure that you don’t sell
yourself short and stop on step #10 when your place of accomplishment is at
step #40 or #50. Be encouraged as you press on towards that mark in Christ
Jesus. God and a host of angels will be cheering with you when you do (even if
man does not). Push on. You can do it!
Blessings,
MinD
P.S. Don’t forget to share this prayer point with someone
today. You never know who could use an encouraging word to make it past their
step #10.
