When I was in high school, I was a part of the “Spike Shoe” club. Our job was to record the achievements by the athletes in the various events. I remember the high jump. A bar would be set for the athlete to launch his or her body over. The bar was set such that it challenged the athlete to achieve a higher standard than his or her previous jump, in order to score better than competing athletes.
The coach would train the athlete to improve upon past performance. The goal set for the athlete required effort. Had the bar been set low, there wouldn’t have been any challenge to the athlete’s performance.
Today I find that people often set their bar low when setting expectations for themselves, or for others. This might be in the case of parenting, education, or the workplace.
What I see happening, is that people will live down to the standard that is set for them, if it is not set high enough. Our natural response is to do only what is enough to get by, and to satisfy those we have a responsibility toward.
But God sets the bar high!
But God also equips us, through His mercy, grace, love and patience, to achieve His standard.
In Matthew 16:24, Jesus expressed His standard for His people: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
But God doesn’t just set that standard and expect us to meet it based upon our own strength and abilities.
God equips His people to rise above their natural abilities, through His supernatural gifting and empowerment.
Everyone who accepts Jesus’ gift of salvation is indwelt and sealed by His mighty and powerful Holy Spirit! “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16
Ezekiel 36:27: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
Galatians 5:22-23 also expresses God’s standard for His people. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” How do God’s people successfully achieve this “bar” that is set for us? We do so by depending upon the Holy Spirit. This verse states it is the Spirit’s fruit, not something we produce independently of God.
This requires effort on our part as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
Our part is to fix our eyes upon the Author and Finisher of our faith. This is how the Amplified Bible states Hebrews 12:2: “[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].”
Jesus not only sets our goals, but proved through His victory on the cross, that He is able to empower us to reach the goals He sets for us.
Jesus turned away from whatever distracted Him from the work the Father gave Him. We need to follow this example.
We need to put aside whatever distracts us from time alone with God each day.
We need to remove distractions that keep us from personally digging into His Word each day. This means we need to be involved with others who are also studying God’s Word, and talking together about what we are learning, and how we are obeying what we are learning.
We need to ask God to give us incentive to do these things.
We need to ask God to help us to seek Him energetically, and to not grow weary in doing so. This way we can work toward the bar He has set in place for us, as our loving Coach.
If I can help you in any way with this journey, please contact me at the email below.
Living for Jesus, Donna
P.S. If this has helped you, please feel free to share it with others!
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Copyright 2021 Donna Shappy
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