79-Where Do You Draw The Line?

“I don’t know if I want to go all the way to the top…”  My flesh and childhood upbringing internally shouted in response to this new climber, “You have to just go for it!  Don’t sell yourself short!”  Before I could reason with myself behind the doors to my inner thoughts, the guide in me took over and said, “It’s all good.  Just go up to where you feel comfortable, enjoy the journey.  Next time go a little higher and before you know it you will make it to the top of the wall.”  There is definitely a nervous flare in everyone who climbs for the first time.  You have to let go and trust that little rope to keep you from plummeting back to the start.

Last week during our young adult Adventures In Discipleship (AID) Course I posed the question, “Where is our limit when it comes to obeying God?  Where do we say ‘that’s enough’ then rationalize why it wasn’t really God at all but our own imaginations beckoning us to push beyond all comfort?”  The question was formed more organically than planned and proved to be my own personal challenge and area of contemplation this week.  After an early Tuesday morning Bible study, I was pulled aside by a 91-year-old gentlemen who had been in ministry nearly twice as long as I have been alive. When that happens, you better just shut up and follow instructions!  He went on to share with me about fundraising and being bold to request someone to lift that burden from me.  My initial thought was, “Heck yeah!”  However, as I thought more about this concept and talked to my wife, I realized that I really do want to have my hand in the financial aspect of Project Forty.  It’s safe when you know the who, what, when, where, why and how.  I have found one of my limits.  I was not willing to pray for God to bring that right person along. I mean, really pray, as if it’s already in progress—done.  You know what I’m talking about, we can all say we’ll pray for this or that, but do we really pray?  I found my limit and I knew it, God knew it, my wife knew it… that’s an unescapable combination right there, I tell ya.

Where is your limit?  How far are you willing to go when it comes to obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit in your life?  Have you looked up at the climbing wall and decided, “I think I’m going to go that high?”  I think we all do it, but the real question is, will we climb as high as God tells us to climb instead of selling His power in our lives short?  Well?