Sometimes we need to avoid that which is out of our grasp, but sometimes …
Ever gone into a store, a shop, a boutique that you can barely afford to browse the goods that are displayed?
Ever surfed the vacation websites for exotic destinations and lavish holidays?
Ever searched for real estate, and intentionally checked out properties that you couldn’t afford the maintenance costs, let alone the mortgage?
Doing such things can be a recipe for emotional disaster …
Sometimes, though, to see what is out of our reach might be the necessary nudge to change or improve our current circumstances.
Such can be the case when reading the Bible about what is required or expected of how we live our lives, as followers of Christ.
“… and what does the Lord require of you?
to act justly,
and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8
(that is not easy)
“But you are to be perfect,
as your father in heaven is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48
(perfect? yikes!)
“Love the Lord your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your mind
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:30-31
(wow! I’m sure I am not that selfless)
These are just three examples of the standard for those of us who claim the name of Christian. The bar is high! Impossibly high! Yet it’s height is not to discourage us, but to prod us along, to encourage us to aim high.
We serve a risen Savior. In His rising he raised that bar for us. Not to discourage us, but to move us beyond our present circumstances, to something better.
itsawonderfilledlife 