Stepping Across the Threshold

I believe each of us come to thresholds in our lives. It could be a moment of decision, a passing over or a staying right where you think you should be. Our feet walk up to the edge of a life change and our eyes look to what awaits us on the other side. 

The most comfortable place to stay is right where our feet currently are, on the side of the threshold that usually has us pursuing our own dreams, our own desires, the things we love in life, the careers we want to have, the way we use our time, the way we raise our families and even the way we interact and treat people. The list could go on and on, but I will spare you the details. But the fact of the matter is, when a believer in Christ says the prayer that invites Jesus to be the Lord of their life, it is delivered with a promise to step over any threshold that is placed between them and God.

In other words, the believer says to Jesus, "Where You go, I'll go, When You stay, I'll stay, When You move, I'll move, I will follow You."

But let’s be honest here, taking a step over that spiritual threshold is more like a leap of faith. It can often feel like we have weights attached to our ankles. These weights keep our feet firmly planted to the ground, unable to lift a foot over the THRESHOLD, often leaving us staring at the path that God has for us, yet unwilling to take any step toward it. 

I had a realization for myself some years ago. I looked in a mirror and thought, "You have the biblical knowledge, you have Jesus, but you're living life as though you don't." My feet were stuck at a threshold that I refused to jump over. I refused to trust that following the path of Jesus was the best decision I could ever make. As a result, I held onto bad habits, followed the wrong desires and set goals for myself that had nothing to do with what God had for me. My side of the threshold brought nothing but confusion and pain, and my heart cried out for change. 

My prayer that day is the same prayer I have today: Dear Jesus, my desire is to know you more. My desire is to walk in your ways. My desire is You!

Charles Stanley once wrote:
“So often I see Christians struggling to get to what they perceive as the top. They gather and accumulate and arrange and amass – all the while forging their long list of accomplishments, perhaps with the hope that they will one day be able to hand their resume to God and say, “See what I have done for you.”
God’s work, through brokenness, calls us not to accumulate, but discard. He calls us to get rid of this, toss that, purge ourselves of this trait and that habit, repent of that desire and that goal, and finally strip ourselves of all self until we can truly say, “All that I am and all that I have is God’s. He is in me and I am in Him, and that is all that matters.”

This is a tremendous challenge for each of us, but I believe God equips us to meet this challenge head on. It really stands behind the vision God has given New Hope Community Church. We want to Pursue a Relentless, Unrestricted Relationship with Jesus Christ. Relentless in its desire for Jesus, but Unrestricted in that it's not about the law, or something that we have to do. It's something we WANT to do. 

The apostle Paul considered knowing and pursuing Jesus as the PINNACLE of anything he could do in life. It was the only thing that mattered to him, and yet he was aware of how challenging it would be for him AND all of us. But consider these words as you decide whether to take that leap of faith over your threshold. 

Philippians 3:8-14 (ESV)

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.