When I was a little boy I had a dream. The fulfillment of this dream would mean something so significant to me that I couldn't begin to describe the feeling. If I could just do what I had been dreaming about, it would mean that I was a man; that I had grown up.
It wasn't any of those. Instead, this dream was much simpler. It's almost comical now when I look back on it. I wanted to be able to jump and reach the top of a door frame with my hand.
Chuckle if you will, but this was important to me! I had always been a little shorter than all of my peers (some would argue that I still am). In fact, I had a teacher that used to say the old adage, "Dynamite comes in small packages" around me all the time. The cool guys, though, were the ones who could jump up and reach the door frame in 4th grade. I couldn't do that then, and I still couldn't for most of my 5th grade year. I remember walking down the hallway after my school lunch, all of our class lined up single file, and as we passed by this particular door frame every boy in the class would jump up and touch it. I can't explain why. It's just something that little boys do.
I would practice this at home. I would take a running start in the hallway of our house, leap toward the door frame leading into the kitchen, and stretch my arms out as far as I could to try to touch it. Finally, one day, I did.
For a moment it was an amazing feeling! I couldn't believe I had actually done it! I couldn't wait to show the other boys at school that I could join in on this rite of passage.
I was on top of the world for a few months, because every time I jumped to touch that frame, I made it. I thought I was growing up! One event, though, would bring that concept in my mind back down to the ground. We had a visiting preacher one Sunday, and his son and I were about the same age. We were both jumping up and touching the tops of door frames in the church building. Finally, as we were all getting ready to leave, I jumped up and touched an awning for an exterior door as we all walked by. I made some silly childish statement like, "this is freedom". Then the preacher walked past that frame, and standing flat footed slapped the door frame in a higher spot than I could ever reach at the time. He then said, "No, this is freedom." I realized then that I had more work to do.
Can you think back to something that you wanted so bad that you couldn't help but think about it all the time. What did you do to try to make that thing happen? Isn't it amazing what lengths we go to in order to make our dreams, however silly, a reality? I spent so much time running, jumping, and stretching to be able to reach the top of that door frame. Now that I look back on it, why did I do that?
In all of this I'm reminded of what Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-14 (ESV) about something much more important than touching the tops of door frames:
(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.
It's so important what Paul writes here. Paul affirms that while he is in a state of salvation, that even after all the suffering he has endured he hasn't come to a point of full completion in his spiritual life! He has more to do, more to grow in, more to live for! Notice that he says that he is forgetting the things that were behind him. He's leaving all the things of the past, whether good or bad, in the past. Why? Because he's moving forward. He's even straining toward those goals. It's work for him to move toward what lies ahead! But he's pressing on, pressing upward.
Don't ever think that just because you've been immersed [baptized] and you attend services on a fairly consistent basis that you have "attained". And if you haven't done those things, then you haven't even begun! I thought that since I could jump and reach the door frame that I had made it, but that preacher showed me I had a lot more growing to do. The same may be true for you. How much more growing do you need to do?
If only we could concentrate on worthwhile goals with the same passion children have for the things that are important to them. Especially the goal that I'm sure all of us have in common: going to heaven. How important is heaven to you? Are you reaching for heaven's doorframe?
No comments:
Post a Comment