Going Beyond the Limits

Do we have the faith to be more than average!

What does that mean? I thought about the ramifications of going beyond the limits as I was looking for inspiration for a speech. People push the limits of their bodies even to the point of death or near death. I saw a documentary about a guy who was preparing to “free climb” a steep jagged peak that ascended beyond the point of surviving the fall if made one misstep…no ropes or harness were used.

The show depicted his training to get to that point. By the time he made the climb, he knew every foothold along the way. He made it. I assume they would not have shown his plunge to death if he hadn’t. At that point, no one would have cared to see all his preparation and then failure. The big deal was completing the climb.

If you are near my age, you might have seen Evil Kinevil jumping buses and trucks and more. I’d say he went beyond normal limits. Although he was injured numerous times, he eventually died of diabetes and lung disease. We can only cheat death for so long.

I’ve heard of tight rope walkers did their thing across the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls.

I love the story about the man who tight rope walked across Niagara falls. This is also a great illustration of faith.

Charles Blondin was a famous French tightrope walker. His greatest fame came on September 14, 1860, when he became the first person to cross a tightrope stretched 11,000 feet (over a quarter of a mile) across Niagara Falls. People from both Canada and America came from miles away to see this great feat.

He walked across, 160 feet above the falls, several times, each time with a different daring feat – once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, in the dark, and blindfolded. One time he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet in the middle of the rope!

A large crowd gathered and the buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank. The crowd “Oohed and aahed!” as Blondin carefully walked across – one dangerous step after another – pushing a wheelbarrow holding a sack of potatoes.

Upon reaching the other side, the crowd’s applause was louder than the roar of the falls!

Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?”

The crowd enthusiastically yelled, “Yes! You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. We believe!”

“Okay,” said Blondin, “Who wants to get into the wheelbarrow.”

As the story goes, no one took him up on the offer.

This unique story illustrates a real life picture of what faith really is. The crowd watched these daring feats. They said they believed. But… their actions proved otherwise.

Similarly, it is one thing for us to say we believe in God. However, it’s true faith when we believe God and put our faith and trust in Him.

But there are things that can never be done no matter how we push the limits. We can’t push the limits of time. We are all relegated to 86,400 seconds in a day.

Can we go beyond what we are meant to be or beyond what God has for us? The Bible tells us in a familiar passage, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid for you are close beside me. (Psalm 23:4) We are never far from God. We only need to call on his name and he will be right there with us.

Pushing the limits takes us outside the range of man’s perspective…Like Star Trek and these men I mentioned, we boldly go where no one has gone before.

Or it can be as simple as achieving something that is beyond what society says you can do.

My grandmother was widowed and left with 6 children between the ages of 15 and 15 months. Society today would put her on welfare. In her day, she pulled herself up, took her children in hand, and made a life despite the circumstances. She had some help from family and took in washing to earn some money. When all the children were in school, she took a job outside the home. She never remarried.

All those children, my father and my aunts and uncles, never went beyond high school but they made something of themselves with lifelong careers.

Today, as most of us sit in our homes waiting a release to go back to normal activity, we can choose faith or we can choose fear. Faith says God knows what we are going through and he is right beside us. He holds our future.

Fear is like getting in that wheelbarrow. We can cheer on the one that holds the handles but when we are asked to join him and put our trust in him, we faulter. We ask all the “what if,” questions. We lose sleep because we can’t stop thinking about what could happen instead of resting in God’s hands.

Take some time today to ask God how you can serve him during this time at home. I’ve been asking and hopefully this will encourage you to go beyond your own limits.

Prayer

God, I ask for your peace over those that would read this today. Help them to find their confidence in you. I ask that you would keep them safe from the virus and help us all to be safely released from this quarantine soon. Help us to find ways to serve you while we wait.

Discussion questions:

1. What is one way that you have gone beyond the limits or would like to in order to make a difference in the world?
2. What is one way you could or should push yourself to go beyond your limits and reach your God-ordained destiny?
3. How has God helped you to overcome something to find the better you in the end?

Action steps:

1. Get off social media and take time to seek God in prayer.
2. Do you have an elderly neighbor who needs help? Offer to get groceries or a prescription for them so they don’t have to go out.
3. Encourage someone online or by phone.
4. Be encouraged.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. (Phil 4:6-8 NKJV)