From What Height Have You Fallen From?

Are you scared of heights? I am. Every time I get more than 10 feet up a ladder or look down from over 1 floor of a building I get that knot in my stomach. That knot which tells me I am too high for comfort and that I could fall and do some real damage to my body, even death. I think in a lot of ways we get scared of going high with the Lord. Some of our culture holds us back, sometimes it is the tradition in us, and sometimes we just feel like our level with Christ need not elevate any further. Some begin to feel they are high enough with the Lord. If we are high enough to get into heaven, why go any higher here on earth!

There was a church that once was commended by the Apostle Paul. Paul gave prayer and thanksgiving for the believers in ancient Ephesus when he heard of the height of their faith and love for each other. In Chapter 1 of Ephesians he prays for more growth! Ephesians 1:18-19a ^“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe… “What Paul wanted was for the Ephesians to continue higher and experience the hope that would produce great power in them.

 

Later in Revelation 2, Jesus commends the believers in Ephesus for their perseverance. However, their “fall”  and lack of growth Jesus holds against them. 

In Revelations 2: 4-5 Christ says, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. ⁵ Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 

In fact the church had fallen down to a lower foothill and found contentment in that lower height. Friends, it is at these lower heights that we will experience the LACK of the power of God. Without the power of God we find ourselves ripe for our sinful nature to take over. It is at lower heights that we will lack the power to win more battles over the devil and/or our own sinful nature.

Why is it that we such a hard time taking the next leg up in our relationship with God? I believe our religious culture holds us back and our leaders do too. I have never been able to figure out why Muslims have no problem bowing down unashamedly on mats so their heads hit the floor in acts of worship to what? … A lie!  We, on the other hand sometimes feel we have reached the pinnacle of worship when we are able to raise one hand high in worship if and when the music drives enough emotion in us… to whom?  …. The true creator and King, Jesus Christ!  Is there something wrong with that picture? Is God looking down at us and saying “Are you kidding me?”

Lately I have had a metaphoric knot in my stomach, and it is not because I am on a ladder while I type. It is because I remember the heights of my growth in Christ and I just do not feel as high today.  It has not resulted in any unbelief, but I can feel a loss of the power of Christ. I am writing most of this right now as I am up in Northern Wisconsin on a study/vacation break trying to re-climb the hill I was once on. Many of you know exactly what I am talking about. Your growth curve in Christ was once steep but you are now on top of a foothill and in the face of a larger mountain that you just might not climb. The view from the foothill you are on is just fine with you. You can see enough of God from that height and know that if you climbed higher the air might be hard to breath, and just feel powerless to muster another leg up. Some of you are like me, who were climbing up well; but then … through lack of study and faith regressed.  

I would love to re-climb and surpass the height of my former peak. I just wonder if any of you are getting a knot in your stomach and need to come along?