In some ways the truth that God has revealed to us is like a bar for a high jumper. The bar tells us what God wants for us and from us. It tells us many things like “Be patient with your daughter” and “Rejoice even when things are hard.” All of the message of the bar can be summed up in two commands, love God and love others, but we still need to be reminded of the hundreds of ways of living out the two great commandments.
When it comes to a high jump bar, most of us could jump one foot. Many of us can jump two or three feet, but when the bar gets to four feet most of us wouldn’t even try. So where is this bar set for you and me and for the whole world? It’s been set at infinity, at perfection. You may jump ten feet when I only jump 3, but you will not be able to clear the bar. If you give your all and try your best the maximum amount of time that you can, you will fail.
But, there is grace. There was one perfect high jumper who cleared the bar when it was set so high that we can’t even imagine it’s height. And God has gifted and implanted this right way of living and doing into all the sons and daughters of God. So when you jump, by grace, you clear the bar, even though you’re not always clearing it. One a particular day you helped your neighbor move some boxes, but you overreacted to someone’s political view on Facebook. You passed the bar by grace and you failed the bar, but there is more grace to cover your failure.
When a baby learns to walk, when they take their very first steps, people go a little crazy. I’ve witnessed it many times, and it is a joy. The baby takes one or two steps and falls. No one says: “What a useless baby! Can’t even walk all the way to Daddy.” Instead we cheer. That is what God is doing when you take a step, by grace, over the bar.
