Who Raised The Bar???!!!

Who Raised The Bar???!!!

What if we were to view what God declares through the whole of His word as an acceptable life for His children - as the bar of a track and field high jump? The Lord would say to us that "this is the acceptable goal - this is what I require of you." OK, that's clear enough. So now, we begin to train. We begin to work toward that goal, jumping just a little higher each day with His coaching and help. But then, by the same imagination you begin to realize that in this world there are also a whole multitude of other bars that people have set for themselves and for others to clear. Society sets bars, families set bars, there are the bars set by friends and employers, and the bars that we set for ourselves through borrowing (otherwise known as selling ourselves into slavery) and personal goals (bars we set for ourselves regarding careers, family, future accomplishments etc.)  - an endless number of bars for us to jump! It seems after a while that the more bars we jump, the more bars there are to jump! 

If we're not careful and focused, because of all of these other expectations and demands, it's easy to imagine that at some point we'd get somewhat harried trying to remember which bars we're jumping and who we're jumping for and why we're jumping them. Suddenly our life can look like it's become nothing more than a forest of high jump bars. We're jumping so many bars now that we're doing it instinctively - see a bar ... jump it! On and on we go ... jumping bars... until ... our joy ... really ... begins ... to .. wane ... and now ... we're just tired ... of jumping bars ... but we ... don't ... know how ... to stop!

Some bars are easy. Some people are willing to lower the bars of expectation - assuming the authority to define for themselves what an acceptable life is. Some are so low that you don't even have to jump ... you just simply step over. They decide for themselves that this is ok - they'll determine for themselves what's right and wrong. There are even some in the body of Christ who are willing to fudge the bar ... just a little bit lower mind you ... God will understand right? Eventually some become adjusted to jumping lower bars ... and some just don't care if they get over 'em any more or not  ... they're tired and they just don't want to worry about it right now. Some don't even train much anymore ... and some ... just quit working at it altogether.

But what some may forget is that in every life there's one, and only one command high jump event that every one is required to measure up to without exception. This means a few things: In all of life, there's only one bar that we need to really be concerned with and it's by training for that bar that all of the rest are cleared in process. We're not expected to get over that bar by ourselves - in fact we can't. There's only one perfect high jumper who's ever cleared the bar. His name is Jesus and He trains with us every step of the way - coaching us in every detail and every move. But what we find is that as long as we make the sincere effort and put our trust in Jesus, Father God (the Sovereign Judge) declares that we're on His team and allows a substitution ... and to our joy and relief we find that Jesus already cleared that bar for us in our place.

But for those who won't train or don't train or aren't willing to follow the direction of our Holy Coach, they'll realize too late that the bar they face now, the only one that really counts ... is far higher than anything they've ever pushed themselves to train for or maybe ever seen before. This because they were willing to lower the bars for themselves in the past. This is an unmovable bar - it's never moved and never will because it's held in place by the righteousness of our unchanging Sovereign God. But in the end ... too late, many will be screaming in fear realizing their failure and wanting to know "who raised the bar???!!!" when the truth is ... it's where it always has been ... and it was the only one that mattered.