We're Aiming Too Low

“Well, nobody’s perfect!”

“We’ll never achieve this level of goodness until heaven.”

Who can argue with this?  We all “break the rules” of God’s standards, daily – often several times a day.  We know from bitter experience failure in living up to Christ’s example.  Often this is a source of embarrassment and shame, particularly for those who truly desire to be Christlike.

So, we have taken solace in the fact that “we’ll never achieve this until heaven;” to the point that we’re satisfied with our current spiritual maturity.  To be honest, some have adopted this concept as license to live a life without transformation.

These truisms have become part of American Christian terminology, and there are scriptures to back them, however, that is not the complete message that is given to those who belong to Jesus.  Give these three your full attention for a moment.

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  Ephesians 3:17-19

“It was he (Jesus) who gave some to be (list of church leadership), to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  Ephesians 4:11-13

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world caused by evil desires.”  2 Peter 1:3, 4

These passages aren’t referring to “by and by, in the sky, when I die,” they are speaking to real-time believers about their potential as they trust and obey Jesus.

Reread the scriptures, if necessary, they tell us basically that our goal is to be like our God – and infer that this goal is entirely attainable.  There’s no “small print” that I can see, can you?

Well then, why are we messing up so often? 

Following Jesus is not a stroll on easy street – Christians will readily tell you that; but, in my opinion, American believers tend to soft-pedal or ignore our opposition.  According to Sun Tzu (the ancient Chinese general – his writing is required reading in our military academies), “to win a battle (and ultimately, a war), you must understand your enemy and understand yourself.”

We are opposed by spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, led by Satan, and we live in a corrupt world and society.  Add to this, we have the internal enemy that the Bible calls our sinful nature or sinful flesh; not a discussion of our body, rather our rebellious attitudes and the ruts we’ve made for ourselves practicing sin.

That’s a formidable array of opposition!  Thinking about our struggle can be very discouraging; thinking about it in a vacuum, that is, because we have an even greater ally.  As devoted followers of Jesus, baptized believers, we have God the Holy Spirit living in us.  He’s at work to empower us to obey and imitate our Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to stress to you that, in my experience, the typical American believer is living at a much lower level, spiritually, than God intends for us. We’re aiming too low.

It’s an issue of TRAJECTORY.  When a person is shooting arrows at a distant target, he must account for gravity.  The laws of nature pull the arrow down and off course.  A great deal of frustration can be relieved when he aims higher.  (The same is true for bullets and missiles – include in the calculations for wind direction and velocity, along with the earth’s rotation.)

As I’ve observed, Christians aim low because they have the notion that they’re on their own when it comes to living for Jesus.  We lower expectations to ensure “success;” but, unwittingly, we’ve defined success a far cry from our Lord’s desires.  Review those three passages above (Ephesians and 2 Peter).  They place very high standards before us – standards that can be achieved in partnership with the Holy Spirit.

I encourage you to take the time to read the context around these passages.  You’ll find descriptions of love, unity, and very high moral standards; attitudes and actions that are seldom seriously discussed in Christian circles. A degree of true love and morality that are sadly missing from our churches. There are also descriptions of our opposition and the necessity to engage in spiritual battle. 

We tend to focus on safety, security, and personal peace while our spiritual enemies are bringing the battle to us.  Christ, the Royal Master, wants to lead us against the foe – but our sights are set on maintaining a local church program.  (Not a bad thing in and of itself; however, it is not in and of itself – our King has higher standards.)

We’re aiming too low.

Jesus calls us, “Follow me.”  He is sinless. Our Father says, “Be holy, for I am holy.” What should be our trajectory for personal morality?

“But I might fail! “Yes, but keep in mind Jesus died for our failures.  Interesting, in the New Testament, the main Greek word for sin is an archery term – “missing the mark.”  (Their bullseye was a reed – about the width of your index finger).  We may miss the mark, but as we raise our trajectory and rely on the power of the Spirit, we will find ourselves going far beyond what we thought we could … participating in the divine nature and escaping the corruption of the world caused by evil desires.

It's high time we adjusted our approach; don’t you think?